Boston, MA -- The advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) launched a new educational tool today called "Wake & Learn," aimed at better informing patients, doctors and the public about medical marijuana. Utilizing TheAnswerPage.com, an online educational website for physicians, healthcare professionals and others, ASA is encouraging patients to participate in a daily Q&A at 10am via Facebook and Twitter, as well as a weekly interactive crossword puzzle featured every Saturday on the ASA blog, Voices from the Frontlines.

"Popular support for medical marijuana is strong across the country, but there are still significant gaps in knowledge among patients and their doctors," said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. "We're hopeful that these gaps can begin to be filled with the relevant and crucial information provided by TheAnswerPage." Founded in 1998, TheAnswerPage recently began offering Continuing Medical Education (CME) courses on medical marijuana. While the information on TheAnswerPage is designed mainly for physicians and healthcare professionals, the daily Q&A on medical marijuana is written for the lay person.

"Medical marijuana may be controversial, but it is an important area of study in healthcare," said TheAnswerPage co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Stephen B. Corn, MD, an award winning physician, researcher, inventor and faculty member at Harvard Medical School. "Doctors and healthcare professionals must understand the medical, legal, social and political issues to best respond to their patients' questions and attend to their needs." Educational content provided by TheAnswerPage, including its material on medical marijuana, is sponsored and accredited by the Massachusetts Medical Society and is read in over 120 countries.

TheAnswerPage focuses on several aspects of medical marijuana, including the five most studied cannabinoids and an explanation of the endocannabinoid system, state and federal marijuana laws, the FDA drug approval process as it pertains uniquely to marijuana, including information on pre-clinical trials, phase I, II and III trials, new drug applications and the drug marketing process. In addition to providing information on medical marijuana, TheAnswerPage offers educational material on opioid prescribing, pain medicine, palliative care, risk management, anesthesiology, perioperative and hospital medicine, and clinical statistics.

Sunil K. Aggarwal, MD, PhD, resident physician at NYU Medical Center and an ASA Board member laments the lack of knowledge about medical marijuana among his peers. "Most medical schools are lagging in teaching the scientific facts about the medicinal use of cannabis," said Aggarwal. "It's great that doctors can now get excellent and rapid CME training on medical marijuana at TheAnswerPage." Registration and information provided by TheAnswerPage remains free, according to its CEO John Stephenson, "so that physicians, researchers and other healthcare professionals around the world may take advantage of the exceptional content."

In March, ASA polled its membership and found that the overwhelming majority of patients wanted more information on medical marijuana science and research. By providing ASA with advanced daily content, TheAnswerPage is satisfying a critical educational need and building its own network of online participants.

Further information:
New daily ASA Wake & Learn program: http://www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/WakeandLearn
TheAnswerPage medical marijuana daily Q&A: http://www.theanswerpage.com/qod.php?specialty_id=8
TheAnswerPage press release on medical marijuana CME: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/medical-marijuana-education-doctors-focus-133500693.html

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