Survey Results

This page has some results of our cannabis and hemp effectiveness research project (via a simple, standardized survey). We just ask people to tell us about "What Works Best" for their goals.

We understand people may have several symptoms or goals in mind when they consider cannabinoid products, so we encourage everyone to take one survey for each symptom or goal. 

Our survey collects anonymous, self-reported, observational, real-world marketing research data - not clinical or scientific data. We collect data via a standardized survey and publish summary results for free to everyone right here. We don't sell any of our data. Anyone who is interested can see it here.

To have the most value, we need a LOT of survey responses. MANY, MANY thousands. So we encourage everyone to share their formal, anonymous "anecdote" by taking our survey. Just tell us what works well for you!

Please ask your friends and family to take a survey if they've found something that works for them. We send everyone who takes it two of our convenient Pocket Guides and a holographic sticker for their trouble. Cannabis and hemp "anecdotes" collected in the same way with the same survey can quickly become real actionable knowledge. 

The following summary reports and charts cover important aspects of cannabis or hemp product choices and their self-reported effectiveness for people with different types of medical symptoms and adult use goals.

We distinguish between medical use and adult use (recreational), however we understand there is significant overlap - the distinction is by no means clear. Many consumers may not have a diagnosed medical symptom they are treating, but the effects could very well improve their health-related quality of life.

Sleep is a good example of this crossover. Over half of recreational, adult users tell us that "improve my sleep" is a top goal for their cannabinoid consumption. Few would argue that better sleep isn't good for your physical and mental health.

So, our goal is to help both patients and consumers by publishing summary reports and charts of what others say works well for them. Always keep in mind that everyone has unique biochemistry and what works well for one person may be totally ineffective or even detrimental for another. But we think it's always good to understand what works well for others as we each use trial and error to figure out what works best for us.

If you have any suggestions to make the reports we publish better, we encourage you to let us know by email: cs@cbgamedical.com. Thank you for your support!

Data was collected from November 2020 to May 2026. 1,020 surveys were submitted through May 4, 2026. We continue to collect surveys and usually update the reports every year.

Quality of Life Improvement

Improving our quality of life (QOL) is arguably the main goal of any medication or supplement we take. Most of the time, medications that effectively reduce symptoms will improve our quality of life. But sometimes a medication or supplement simply helps us improve our mental and emotional response to a medical or difficult condition. This quote from the authors of a 2025 pain study sums it up well:

many individuals perceive cannabis as beneficial not because it directly reduces pain, but because it alters their psychological responses to it and improves other important outcomes, such as role and social functioning, sleep quality, and opioid substitution, which are largely overlooked in clinical trials of cannabis for chronic pain.

Our survey respondents (on average) report considerable improvement in their overall Quality of Life. Our survey only asks about what works BEST for their symptoms and goals. We're not that interested in what doesn't work. That information certainly has value, but our research is focused on what you find IS effective.

This research project is not clinical or scientific research with a traditional null hypothesis. It is closer to marketing research that anonymously collects self-reported data only from those who have found something that works well for them. But always remember, we all have different biochemistry, physiology, existing conditions, and tolerances so what works for your best friend may not work for you (at all).

But we've found that once people do find something that works for them, they report remarkable improvements in their quality of life (QOL). The summary charts from our patient surveys speak for themselves. Some medical symptoms reported are not included in this chart because we don't have enough responses about them yet, not because they didn't report QOL improvements (they all did). The average values for different symptoms are all in the "Much Better" range, and the differences among them are not statistically significant.

The following chart shows how gender affects the reports of Quality of Life Improvements for these top medical symptoms. Note that some symptoms do not have a non-binary gender column chart value. That's because we don't have enough responses yet.

Key observations:

• The average self-reported improvement in quality of life is about at "Much Better' or above for ALL genders for ALL symptoms
• Women reported slightly less QOL improvement for Anxiety, Arthritis, Insomnia, Inflammation, Pain, and 'Other' than men and non-binary respondents
• Men reported slightly less QOL improvement for Depression, Gastrointestinal, and Headaches/Migraines than women
• Non-binary respondents reported greater QOL improvement than women or men for Anxiety, Pain, and PTSD

Average QOL Improvements by age are also encouraging. ALL age ranges, except the 65-74 year old group, report their quality of life is at least 'Much Better'. The 65-74 group reported between 'Better' and 'Much Better' (but closer to 'Much Better'), so they still report meaningful improvements.

Effectiveness for Medical Symptoms 

These are the top medical symptoms our respondents are treating with cannabinoid products. Pain is by far the most common (34% of respondents), with anxiety (18%) and PTSD (10%) as second and third most common medical symptoms. Since cannabinoids work very differently in different people, we included all responses for your review.

Adult Use Goals

Here is what people tell us about their adult-use goals for cannabinoid products. Relaxation is most common with about 82% selecting it as one of their goals for cannabinoid consumption. 79% of you told us that Sleep is one of your goals. Since sleep quality is linked to overall physical and mental health, this goal might be considered "medical use" to some, and we can't really argue.

As you can see, there are MANY different goals, or reasons chosen. Over half of respondents also selected "Other", so the diversity of use is considerable. It kind of reinforces the notion that cannabinoids can affect people very differently. Note: you can select multiple adult use goals so the totals do not sum to 100% (unlike medical symptoms above).

The rest of this page is focused mostly on Medical Use results since our primary mission is to help patients.

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Effectiveness for Pain

Pain is the most frequent medical symptom that we hear about in the survey, with about one third of respondents stating it as the primary medical symptom they are treating with cannabinoid medicine.

Here's what people tell us about the effectiveness of their "best" method of administration of cannabinoid medicine for pain. Ingesting or swallowing is reported to be most effective at 84% effectiveness for pain reduction.  The least effective is vaping at 73%, which is still quite effective. The differences in average are fairly small across the board and should not be considered "statistically significant". All methods seem to provide good relief for our respondents and what works best for YOU may not be what works best for "most" people. 

Here are some quick summaries of quite a few published studies on cannabinoids and pain. If you are interested, here are a few studies about topicals.

When we break down the pain category into different types of pain reported, it shows that all consumption methods work pretty well for fibromyalgia, chronic, neuropathic, radicular (nerve compression issues like sciatica), and "other types' of pain (arthritis is on a separate chart).

While there were reports of high effectiveness for mucosal (tincture or suppository) and topical administration methods, we don't have enough responses yet to include them here in the 'pain type' breakout chart. 

Our summaries are only intended to help give everyone an overview of what others say works well for them. It may not work well for you at all, but it's always nice to know what the averages are, right? We all have unique biochemistry and tolerances and NOTHING works well for everyone.

Quick summary: Ingestion was reported as most effective for chronic pain (85%) over smoking and vaping (75% and 71%). Ingestion was also reported as most effective for fibromyalgia (85%) over smoking and vaping (80% and 74%). All methods were reported as very effective for neuropathic and radicular pain: between 79% and 88% effective with smoking and vaping rated better for these two types than with chronic pain and fibromyalgia.

Again, the differences should not be considered "statistically significant". They all experienced some pain relief. Your body may respond great to a method that others did not respond to well. But we think it's always good to know the averages when we're looking to find our own "best" product.

All methods seem to help:  65% to 85% effectiveness for pain reduction can be life-changing for some people. Ingestion was reported as over 80% effective for all pain types except the 'other types' category.

The duration of effects for an ingested single dose is much longer than inhaling (6+ hours vs. ~2 hours), so that seems like an advantage for those looking to reduce pain (fewer doses per day). 

 

Effectiveness for Arthritis

The average effectiveness for the top methods of cannabinoid consumption for arthritis symptoms was fairly high and ranged from 74% to 79%. Ingesting was rated most effective at 79% with the majority of patients using this method (57%). Ingesting usually lasts much longer than the other methods, and longer relief per dose is an obvious advantage for any symptom.

Here are some quick summaries of published research for arthritis.

 

Effectiveness for Headaches

Vaping is reported in our survey to be the most effective cannabinoid administration method for headaches or migraines at 83% effective. Ingesting and mucosal (or tincture) administration were rated 81% and 78% effective at relieving symptoms.

Smoking is rated significantly less effective at only 55% according to our respondents. 

A placebo-controlled randomized trial concluded that vaporizing flower with about a 1:2 THC:CBD ratio was effective for migraine relief. That ratio outperformed THC-dominant and CBD-dominant flower. Several other published studies have also shown headache and migraine effectiveness.

 

Effectiveness for Anxiety

Vaping is reported to be the most effective administration method for anxiety, but all the major methods deliver between 74% and 79% effectiveness for anxiety according to our respondents. Vaping has the advantage of being fast acting without burning, and is considered a healthier alternative to smoking by most healthcare professionals.

Here are summaries of quite a few published studies on cannabinoids and anxiety.

 

Effectiveness for PTSD

Vaping is reported to be the most effective cannabinoid administration method for PTSD patients at 79% effective, but just barely. Smoking is also very effective at 78%  according to our respondents. Ingesting is reported at 75% effective, and mucosal administration is 67%. 

Over 88% of the surveys collected for PTSD indicated a preference for smoking (58%) or vaping (30%), likely due to the fast-acting effects from those two methods.

 Here are summaries of some published studies on cannabinoids and PTSD.

 

Effectiveness for Insomnia

All methods of consumption were reported as 76% or more effective for assisting patients with sleep disorders. Vaping was, on average the most effective at 83%, while ingesting was reported as 82% effective. 

41% of the respondents selected smoking and 34% selected ingesting as their most effective method of consumption.

Quick summaries of some published research on sleep disorders and insomnia are here.

 

Effectiveness for Gastrointestinal Symptom Relief

Ingestion was reported in our survey to be the most effective at relieving gastrointestinal symptoms at 80% effective. For these symptoms, smoking and vaping were not as effective at 66% each.

Please note that 'Nausea' is a separate category - we do not have enough surveys to post summary results for that symptom yet, however anecdotal evidence indicates that inhaling (smoke or vapor) does provide some relief.

Effectiveness for Depression

Most of our respondents (90%) treated depression symptoms with cannabinoids via smoking or vaping. Vaping had an effectiveness rate of 80% while smoking had an effectiveness rate of 77%. There weren't enough respondents using ingestion or mucosal delivery to include in this analysis.

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Wait time and Duration

People tell us that their average wait time to feel effects and the average duration of those effects varies a lot based on the method of administration (consumption). 

The effects from inhaling smoke or vapor begin fast (6.5 minutes on average) and then last just over 2 hours (131 and 144 minutes respectively), on average. However, the average inhalation wait time for onset ranged from 'immediate' to over 15 minutes in some cases. It reinforces the fact that we all have unique body chemistry and tolerance, and the effects vary considerably from person to person.

Ingesting (swallowing) takes about 41 minutes to feel effects but lasts an average of almost 6 hours (344 minutes). Again, these are averages and half of the responses were less and half were more than these averages.

Tincture effects take about half an hour (33 minutes) to start and last an average of 5.5 hours, (331 minutes) almost as long as ingesting. Recent research indicates that often tinctures are mostly swallowed before they are absorbed mucosally, so they end up being processed in the liver like ingested products.

Topical application is becoming more popular, and our respondents say it usually takes about 16 minutes for them to feel the effects. These effects last an average of over 4 hours (264 minutes).

 

Side Effects

Here is what people tell us about the unpleasant or unwanted side effects they experience with their cannabinoid use. 56% said they do not experience any significant unwanted side effects. 

 

While 44% of respondents chose at least one side effect, most medical researchers would classify all of these as very mild to mild side effects. When compared to the list of adverse events recorded in U.S. FDA-approved clinical trials of most pharmaceutical drugs, these are extremely mild.

The top three are Dry Mouth (25%), Increased Appetite (14%), and Dry or Red Eyes (13%). Then Anxiousness (9%), Fatigue or Lethargy (8%), Impaired Memory (8%), Euphoria (4%), Paranoia (4%), Nervousness (4%), Introversion (4%), Headache (3%), Depression (3%), Dizziness (2%), Restlessness (2%), and Other (1%). 

 

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We will be adding to and updating this results page periodically as we collect more data. Our research project has no end date, because new product development will continue, and we see our work as a "living" analysis.

It will be evolving for many years to come, thanks to people like you sharing your knowledge. Thank you very much for your help to de-stigmatize perhaps the most powerful and misunderstood plant on earth!

And don't forget to encourage your friends and family to contribute to our research by taking a quick survey about "What Works Best" for them. Every story matters. Thank you!