A whopping eight in 10 marijuana consumers say they use cannabis, at least in part, as an alternative to traditional prescription drugs, according to a new poll.<\/p>\n
The survey from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD, which was shared exclusively with Marijuana Moment, asked cannabis consumers a simple question: \u201cDo you use cannabis as a replacement for prescription medication?\u201d<\/p>\n
Of the 485 respondents, 79.6 percent affirmed that they did, in fact, use marijuana as a substitute to pharmaceuticals, compared to 20.4 percent who said they did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cPharmaceutical interests know the substitution effect cannabis has on their products is real,\u201d Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, told Marijuana Moment. \u201cFederal prohibition locks in a lot of demand for their addictive and potentially fatal drugs by depriving millions of Americans of legal access to the plant, and I can\u2019t name a single interest aligned with Big Pharma that\u2019s stated support for ending it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur newest poll shows the substitution effect may well be a lot higher than the pharma industry thinks that it is,\u201d he said. \u201cIt estimates that around 40 million Americans use cannabis to some degree as a replacement for prescription drugs. That\u2019s costing Big Pharma billions annually in lost profits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI genuinely want Big Pharma to see this data and decide to spend yet more resources fighting against the plant. Because the more noise they make against cannabis, the more popular our movement becomes. They are that unpopular,\u201d Graham added.<\/p>\n
Notably, a majority of respondents in the survey sample did not report having a state medical cannabis card, indicating that the substitution effect extends beyond the registered patient population.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in May a study on marijuana legalization\u2019s effect on workers\u2019 compensation finds that while the policy change is associated with a \u201cgradual increase\u201d in workers\u2019 comp claims, the average cost per claim in fact fell after the reform\u2014as did patient use of prescription drugs, especially opioids and other painkillers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other research on the use of medical cannabis for pain has found that it was \u201ccomparatively more effective than prescription medications\u201d for treating chronic pain<\/a> after a three-month period, and that many patients reduced their use of opioid painkillers while using cannabis.<\/p>\n A recent federally funded study, for example, shows that\u00a0legalization of marijuana in U.S. states is associated with reduced prescriptions for opioid pain medications<\/a>\u00a0among commercially insured adults\u2014indicating a possible substitution effect where patients are choosing to use cannabis instead of prescription drugs to treat pain.<\/p>\n Additional recent research has also showed a decline in fatal opioid overdoses in jurisdictions where marijuana was legalized for adults. That study found a \u201cconsistent negative relationship\u201d between legalization and fatal overdoses, with more significant effects in states that legalized cannabis earlier<\/a>\u00a0in the opioid crisis. Authors estimated that recreational marijuana legalization \u201cis associated with a decrease of approximately 3.5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n Another recently published report into prescription opioid use in Utah following the state\u2019s\u00a0legalization of medical marijuana<\/a>\u00a0found 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 \u201ccannabis has a substantial role to play in pain management and the reduction of opioid use,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Yet another study, published in 2023, linked medical marijuana use to\u00a0lower pain levels and reduced dependence on opioids<\/a>\u00a0and 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\u00a0saw significant reductions in prescribed opioids<\/a>.<\/p>\n About\u00a0one in three chronic pain patients reported using cannabis<\/a>\u00a0as 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.<\/p>\n Other research published that year found that\u00a0letting people buy CBD legally significantly reduced opioid prescription rates<\/a>, leading to 6.6 percent to 8.1 percent fewer opioid prescriptions.<\/p>\n A 2022 research paper that analyzed Medicaid data on prescription drugs, meanwhile, found that legalizing marijuana for adult use was associated with\u00a0\u201csignificant reductions\u201d in the use of prescription drugs<\/a>\u00a0for the treatment of multiple conditions.<\/p>\n A 2023 report\u00a0linked state-level medical marijuana legalization to reduced opioid payouts to doctors<\/a>\u2014another datapoint suggesting that patients use cannabis as an alternative to prescription drugs when given legal access.<\/p>\n Researchers in another study, published last year, looked at opioid prescription and mortality rates in Oregon, finding that\u00a0nearby access to retail marijuana moderately reduced opioid prescriptions<\/a>, though they observed no corresponding drop in opioid-related deaths.<\/p>\n Other recent research also indicates that cannabis may be an effective substitute for opioids in terms of pain management.<\/p>\n A report published recently in the journal BMJ Open, for instance, compared medical marijuana and opioids for chronic non-cancer pain and\u00a0found that cannabis \u201cmay be similarly effective and result in fewer discontinuations than opioids,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0potentially offering comparable relief with a lower likelihood of adverse effects.<\/p>\n Separate research has 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Minnesota, meanwhile, a recent state government report on chronic pain patients enrolled in the state\u2019s medical marijuana program said recently that participants \u201care finding a noticeable change in pain relief\u201d within a few months of starting cannabis treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beyond pharmaceuticals, financial analysts said last year that they expect the expansion of the marijuana legalization movement will continue to post a \u201csignificant threat\u201d to the alcohol industry, citing survey data that suggests more people are using cannabis as a substitute for alcoholic beverages such a beer and wine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Using Hemp Flour And Oil Can Make Gluten-Free Baked Goods With \u2018Optimal\u2019 Texture And \u2018Significant\u2019 Nutrition, Study Shows<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post 8 In 10 Marijuana Consumers Use It As A Substitute For Prescription Drugs, New Survey Finds<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A whopping eight in 10 marijuana consumers say they use cannabis, at least in part, as an alternative to traditional prescription drugs, according to a new poll. The survey from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD, which was shared exclusively with Marijuana Moment, asked cannabis consumers a simple question: \u201cDo youContinue 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":[18,15462],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82037"}],"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=82037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82038,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82037\/revisions\/82038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: 8 In 10 Marijuana Consumers Use It As A Substitute For Prescription Drugs, New Survey Finds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"