Highlights
- •Cannabis use was associated with 64% lower opioid use in patients with chronic pain.
- •Cannabis use was associated with better quality of life in patients with chronic pain.
- •Cannabis use was associated with fewer medication side effects and medications used.
Abstract
Opioids are commonly used to treat patients with chronic pain (CP), though there is
little evidence that they are effective for long term CP treatment. Previous studies
reported strong associations between passage of medical cannabis laws and decrease
in opioid overdose statewide. Our aim was to examine whether using medical cannabis
for CP changed individual patterns of opioid use. Using an online questionnaire, we
conducted a cross-sectional retrospective survey of 244 medical cannabis patients
with CP who patronized a medical cannabis dispensary in Michigan between November
2013 and February 2015. Data collected included demographic information, changes in
opioid use, quality of life, medication classes used, and medication side effects
before and after initiation of cannabis usage. Among study participants, medical cannabis
use was associated with a 64% decrease in opioid use (n = 118), decreased number and
side effects of medications, and an improved quality of life (45%). This study suggests
that many CP patients are essentially substituting medical cannabis for opioids and
other medications for CP treatment, and finding the benefit and side effect profile
of cannabis to be greater than these other classes of medications. More research is
needed to validate this finding.
Perspective
This article suggests that using medical cannabis for CP treatment may benefit some
CP patients. The reported improvement in quality of life, better side effect profile,
and decreased opioid use should be confirmed by rigorous, longitudinal studies that
also assess how CP patients use medical cannabis for pain management.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 19, 2016
Accepted:
March 7,
2016
Received in revised form:
February 23,
2016
Received:
December 4,
2015
Footnotes
Dr. Clauw has performed consulting services for and/or served on scientific advisory boards of Pfizer, Lilly, Forest Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma, Nuvo, Cerephex, Tonix, Iroko, Takaeda, Cerephex, IMC, Zynerba, and Samumed. He has received grant support from Pfizer, Forest, Merck, Nuvo, and Cerephex. Dr. Litinas is the Chief Medical Officer at Om of Medicine, a medical cannabis dispensary in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mr. Boehnke reports no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the American Pain Society
