1,724 adults were contacted by the researchers, 96% of whom (1,661) completed the full survey. Among them, “31.0% of adults with chronic pain reported having ever used cannabis to manage their pain; 25.9% reported using cannabis to manage their chronic pain in the past 12 months, and 23.2% reported using cannabis in the past 30 days.”
The researchers also stated that “more than half of adults who used cannabis to manage their chronic pain reported that use of cannabis led them to decrease use of prescription opioid, prescription nonopioid, and over-the-counter pain medications, and less than 1% reported that use of cannabis increased their use of these medications.”
“Fewer than half of respondents reported that cannabis use changed their use of nonpharmacologic pain treatments,” the study read. “Among adults with chronic pain in this study, 38.7% reported that their used of cannabis led to decreased use of physical therapy (5.9% reported it led to increased use), 19.1% reported it led to decreased use of meditation (23.7% reported it led to increased use), and 26.0% reported it led to decreased used of cognitive behavioural therapy (17.1% reported it led to increased use).”
Thirty-seven states in the U.S. have medical cannabis programs on the books. Among adults living with chronic pain in those states, “3 in 10 persons reported using cannabis to manage their pain,” according to the new study.
“Most persons who used cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain reported substituting cannabis in place of other pain medications including prescription opioids. The high degree of substitution of cannabis with both opioid and nonopioid treatment emphasizes the importance of research to clarify the effectiveness and potential adverse consequences of cannabis for chronic pain,” the researchers wrote. “Our results suggest that state cannabis laws have enabled access to cannabis as an analgesic treatment despite knowledge gaps in use as a medical treatment for pain. Limitations include the possibility of sampling and self-reporting biases, although NORC AmeriSpeak uses best-practice probability-based recruitment, and changes in pain treatment from other factors (eg, forced opioid tapering).”
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “more than 564,000 people died from overdoses involving any opioid, including prescription and illicit opioids, from 1999-2020.”
This study is providing proof to a problem that can be solved with the legalisation of medical cannabis. Over 564,000 people died form overdoses involving any opioid from 1999-2020 according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than half of adults who used cannabis to manage their chronic pain reported that use of cannabis led them to decrease use of prescription opioid according to the study.
Mark Bicket, one of the authors of the new study who also serves as assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and co-director of the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network, expressed that the “fact that patients report substituting cannabis for pain medications so much underscores the need for research on the benefits and risk of using cannabis for chronic pain.”
Photo by Kindel Media
