การประเมินผลลัพธ์การดำเนินงานกัญชาทางการแพทย์และพืชเศรษฐกิจในพื้นที่จังหวัดอำนาจเจริญ

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to monitor and assess the outcomes of medical cannabis and economic crops in Amnat Charoen Province. This research examined opinions, problems and obstacles in implementation and use the results of the study to develop guidelines for improving the operating process of medical cannabis and economic crops in the area. The researcher used quantitative and qualitative method with in-depth interview and focus group discussion. The sample group of this research consisted of 19 people: A group of provincial administrators who have the authority in government administration and implementation of government missions and policies, community leaders, representative of the enterprise group, medical cannabis clinic provider network (multidisciplinary team), customers/patients from hospitals and Tambon Health Promoting Hospitals, and those involved in the process of operating medical cannabis. The researcher analyzed the quantitative data using basic statistics to find the percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The qualitative data were analyzed by categorizing and comparing the data in order of frequency. The findings were then summarized and presented in an essay format. The data was collected between December 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022.

The study's findings revealed that the sample group consisted of 19 participants, the majority of whom were male (73.7%), between the ages of 25 and 35 (31.5%), with a bachelor's degree (57.9%), government service (78.9%), and medical cannabis clinic service staff (57.9%). The results showed that people have less access to cannabis cultivation in upstream operations because information, timing, and process for considering planting permits, including the requirements under the original law, and the preparation of cannabis cultivation require a high cost in production. People would be able to freely grow cannabis after the announcement of the Ministry of Public Health titled drugs in the category 5, year 2022, was published in the Government Gazette for at least 120 days. In middle stream operation, the herbal medicine factory at Pana Hospital is now operational and ready to produce medical cannabis for the health care facilities in the 10^th health district. Efficient supply chain management, research, and the development of recipes based on local wisdom will increase the economic value for people in the area. According to the study's findings in downstream operations, medical cannabis clinics have the right to access comprehensive medical cannabis usage. However, due to the limited medicinal cannabis formulas for use in hospitals and exclusion criteria based on indications for cannabis usage, particularly THC-containing products, people still have restricted access to the service. Participants expressed their views on how to operate medical cannabis from the upstream, midstream, and downstream, expecting outcomes that would benefit patients first and foremost as a treatment alternative and a better quality of life for people in the area by focusing on medical benefits rather than economic or political policy dimensions. Problems and obstacles in the operation are caused by laws and incomprehensive policies that restricted to medical used only. As a result, people unable to cultivate cannabis freely and there is no evidence of integration with other industries. Furthermore, the information is not yet covered in all dimensions, patients/people do not yet have an understanding of the proper use of medicinal cannabis extracts, and patients ask to share cannabis with each other or use cannabis from illegal sources and lack of quality in treatment. Systematic issues with diverse cannabis factories' product pricing, a lack of marketing mechanisms, a monopoly on returnable or exchangeable purchases, and unequal market share. Guidelines improving medicinal cannabis operations include: integration between key departments to manage and exchange information that can provide one-stop service, increase access to services by establishing a combination medical cannabis clinic with both modern and traditional medicine, and promoting the use of cannabis traditional medicine and raising awareness of cannabis prescribing among the clinic staff, screening staff by their knowledge, attitude, and readiness to prescribe cannabis and should receive medicinal cannabis usage training according to the curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Public Health, training for village health volunteers or community leaders to increase people's knowledge of medicinal cannabis, as well as visits to the community to advertise the services. Cannabis medicine treatment or Thai cannabis recipes as well as proactive patient search from the Palliative Care group, patients having indications for this medicine, patient data linked to the reporting system to eliminate record-keeping duplication, and sending data from the system to analyze and develop work on the safety monitoring of medical cannabis use, quality control and standards for medicinal cannabis products to increase patient trust and confidence in healthcare professionals, the use of cannabis must be regulated by a legal licensee to reduce the risks of using cannabis products that contain contaminants or pesticide residues from their processing and processing, supply chain management to lay out the framework and build a roadmap to drive effective cannabis policies. From the lesson learned of the past operations show that pricing products using market mechanisms, reducing monopoly on purchases that can be returned or exchanged, and increasing the likelihood of purchase and equal market share.