About one in three chronic pain patients report using marijuana as a treatment option, and most of that group has used cannabis as a substitute for other pain medications, including opioids, a new study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) found.<\/p>\n
The new paper from researchers at the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University builds on the growing body of scientific literature indicating that cannabinoids can serve as effective pain management tools for some people and as substitutes for certain pharmaceuticals<\/p>\n
The cross-sectional study, published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Substance Use And Addiction, involved data from 1,724 adults 18 and older living in 36 states, plus Washington, D.C., from March to April 2022. The analysis was based on data from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) AmeriSpeak panel.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore 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 non-opioid, and over-the-counter pain medications, and less than one percent reported that use of cannabis increased their use of these medications,\u201d the authors wrote in the research paper<\/a>, which received federal funding through the National Institute on Drug Abuse.<\/p>\n \u201cThe high degree of substitution of cannabis with both opioid and non-opioid treatment emphasizes the importance of research to clarify the effectiveness and potential adverse consequences of cannabis,\u201d it says. \u201cOur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAmong adults with chronic pain in states with medical cannabis laws, 3 in 10 persons reported using cannabis to manage their pain. Most persons who used cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain reported substituting cannabis in place of other pain medications including prescription opioids.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano commented on the findings, saying<\/a> in a blog post on Friday that cannabis has \u201cestablished efficacy in the treatment of multiple conditions, including chronic pain, and it possesses a safety profile that is either comparable or superior to other controlled substances.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo it is no wonder that those with legal access to it are substituting cannabis in lieu of other, potentially less effective and more harmful substances,\u201d he said. \u201cAs legal access continues to expand, one would expect the cannabis substitution effect to grow even more pronounced in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearly 1\/3 of people with chronic pain turn to #cannabis<\/a>, finds new study from U-M’s @MarkBicket<\/a> and team @JohnsHopkinsSPH<\/a> in @JAMANetworkOpen<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/z0P8X16zpk<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Michigan Medicine (@umichmedicine) January 9, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Another recent AMA study found that state-level medical marijuana legalization is associated with a significant decrease in opioid prescriptions and use<\/a> among certain cancer patients.<\/p>\n A study that was released in September similarly found that giving people legal access to medical cannabis can help patients reduce their use of opioid painkillers<\/a>, or cease use altogether, without compromising quality of life.<\/p>\n That same month, another study found that the\u00a0pharmaceutical industry takes a serious economic hit after states legalize marijuana<\/a>\u2014with an average market loss of nearly $10 billion for drugmakers per each legalization event.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no deficit of\u00a0anecdotal reports<\/a>,\u00a0data-based studies<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0observational analyses<\/a>\u00a0that have signaled that some people use cannabis as an alternative to traditional pharmaceutical drugs like opioid-based painkillers and sleep medications.<\/p>\n Last year, a research paper that analyzed Medicaid data on prescription drugs found that legalizing marijuana for adult use is associated with \u201csignificant reductions\u201d in the use of prescription drugs<\/a>\u00a0for the treatment of multiple conditions.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a study funded by a top federal drug agency that was released in November found that state-level marijuana legalization is not associated with increased youth cannabis use<\/a>.<\/p>\n Researchers published more than 4,300 studies on marijuana and its components<\/a> in 2022, an analysis from NORML found.<\/p>\n Wisconsin\u2019s Governor Is Ready To Sign A GOP-Led Medical Marijuana Bill If It\u2019s Not \u2018Flawed\u2019 With Excessive Restrictions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Pain Patients Are Switching To Medical Marijuana Instead Of Opioids, American Medical Association Study Shows<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
About one in three chronic pain patients report using marijuana as a treatment option, and most of that group has used cannabis as a substitute for other pain medications, including opioids, a new study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) found. The new paper from researchers at the UniversityContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15462],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60539"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60540,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60539\/revisions\/60540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Pain Patients Are Switching To Medical Marijuana Instead Of Opioids, American Medical Association Study Shows<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"