Medical Marijuana Effectively Treats Chronic Pain And Helps Patients Reduce Prescription Drug Use, Survey Shows

Medical marijuana patients with chronic pain overwhelmingly agree the
cannabis is an effective, long-term treatment option—with one in three
saying it has helped them to eliminate the use of prescription
drugs—according to a new poll.

The survey from the medical marijuana certification company Green Health
Docs, which involved interviews with 1,450 patients nationwide, asked a
variety of questions about how cannabis impacts their chronic pain.

Eight-six percent said that cannabis improved their pain at least
moderately, with 56 percent saying they say “significant” reductions in
pain.

Nearly half of respondents—48 percent—said they were using prescription
pain medications before trying marijuana. After using cannabis, 35 percent
stopped all prescription pain medications, 15 percent stopped using some
and 12 percent reduced their dosage or frequency. Fewer than one in five
(18 percent) reported no change in prescription pain medication consumption
following the initiation of medical cannabis use.

“Many participants highlighted the lower risk of overdose compared to
opioids, a more manageable side-effect profile, and the flexibility of
different product formats,” the polling report from Green Health Docs says.
“These factors explain why so many choose cannabis as a safer long-term
strategy.”

Almost a fourth of patients in the survey (73 percent) said they rely on
use of marijuana to relieve pain on a daily basis, and most also said they
believe cannabis to be a viable long-term solution for managing chronic
pain—with just over one percent saying they disagree with that notion.

“Respondents frequently described secondary benefits, such as better sleep,
increased mobility, and reduced anxiety,” Dr. Anand Dugar of Green Health
Docs said. “These improvements compound to make a meaningful difference in
day-to-day life.”

This represents one of the latest pieces of evidence that marijuana can
serve as an effective substitute for opioids in pain management treatment.

Another study, published in the journal Pain Management in August,
determined that “co-prescription of cannabinoids may enable patients to
reduce their opioid consumption prescribed for chronic benign pain.”

Earlier this year, a different study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review
found that, among drug users who experience chronic pain, daily cannabis
use was linked to a higher likelihood of quitting the use of opioids—especially
among men.

A study published late last year also found that legalizing medical
cannabis appeared to significantly reduce monetary payments from opioid
manufacturers to doctors who specialize in pain, with authors finding
“evidence that this decrease is due to medical marijuana becoming available
as a substitute” for prescription painkillers.

Other recent research also showed a decline in fatal opioid overdoses in
jurisdictions where marijuana was legalized for adults. That study found a “consistent
negative relationship” between legalization and fatal overdoses, with more
significant effects in states that legalized cannabis earlier in the opioid
crisis. Authors estimated that recreational marijuana legalization “is
associated with a decrease of approximately 3.5 deaths per 100,000
individuals.”

“Our findings suggest that broadening recreational marijuana access could
help address the opioid epidemic,” that report said. “Previous research
largely indicates that marijuana (primarily for medical use) can reduce
opioid prescriptions, and we find it may also successfully reduce overdose
deaths.”

Another recently published report into prescription opioid use in Utah
following the state’s legalization of medical marijuana found that the
availability of legal cannabis both reduced opioid use by patients with
chronic pain and helped drive down prescription overdose deaths statewide.
Overall, results of the study indicated that “cannabis has a substantial
role to play in pain management and the reduction of opioid use,” it said.

Yet another study, published in 2023, linked medical marijuana use to lower
pain levels and reduced dependence on opioids and other prescription
medications. And another, published by the American Medical Association
(AMA) last February, found that chronic pain patients who received medical
marijuana for longer than a month saw significant reductions in prescribed
opioids.

About one in three chronic pain patients reported using cannabis as a
treatment option, according to a 2023 AMA-published report. Most of that
group said they used cannabis as a substitute for other pain medications,
including opioids.

Other research published that year found that letting people buy CBD
legally significantly reduced opioid prescription rates, leading to 6.6
percent to 8.1 percent fewer opioid prescriptions.

A 2022 research paper that analyzed Medicaid data on prescription drugs,
meanwhile, found that legalizing marijuana for adult use was associated
with “significant reductions” in the use of prescription drugs for the
treatment of multiple conditions.

A 2023 report linked state-level medical marijuana legalization to reduced
opioid payouts to doctors—another datapoint suggesting that patients use
cannabis as an alternative to prescription drugs when given legal access.

Researchers in another study, published last year, looked at opioid
prescription and mortality rates in Oregon, finding that nearby access to
retail marijuana moderately reduced opioid prescriptions, though they
observed no corresponding drop in opioid-related deaths.

Other recent research also indicates that cannabis may be an effective
substitute for opioids in terms of pain management.

A report published recently in the journal BMJ Open, for instance, compared
medical marijuana and opioids for chronic non-cancer pain and found that
cannabis “may be similarly effective and result in fewer discontinuations
than opioids,” potentially offering comparable relief with a lower
likelihood of adverse effects.

Separate research published found that more than half (57 percent) of
patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain said cannabis was more effective
than other analgesic medications, while 40 percent reported reducing their
use of other painkillers since they began using marijuana.

The post Medical Marijuana Effectively Treats Chronic Pain And Helps
Patients Reduce Prescription Drug Use, Survey Shows appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.