Chronic pain and cannabis: helps reduce other pain medications

This study collected and analyzed patient information on their use of cannabis for chronic non-cancer pain. The research letter was published in January 2023 on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network.

1661 chronic non-cancer pain patients from 36 U.S. states with medical cannabis programs were surveyed in March and April 2022. Over 500 (31%) of the patients had tried cannabis to control their chronic pain, and 23% had used cannabis in the last 30 days.

The results show that most, but not ALL were able to reduce other pain medications (opioid and non-opioid). It reinforces what we've seen from many other studies: it doesn't work for everyone - but it works for MOST.

Most persons who used cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain reported substituting cannabis in place of other pain medications including prescription opioids.

38.7% reported that their use of cannabis led to decreased use of physical therapy

The research article is here at the JAMA Network website.