Medicinal Cannabis Can Replace Opioids For Pain Relief

Medicinal Cannabis Can Replace Opioids For Pain Relief

Introduction

A new study of thousands of patients has determined that medicinal cannabis might be an essential pain treatment alternative to opioids.

The study discovered that after taking medicinal cannabis, participants reported feeling less discomfort and being able to perform better physically and socially. It was also shown that by utilising medicinal cannabis, the majority of patients who were taking oxycodone, codeine, and other opioids to treat their pain were able to discontinue or reduce their use.

The findings suggest that, when taken under adequate medical supervision, medicinal cannabis, cannabis and cannabis-based drugs might reduce opioid consumption in some people. More study is needed to see if this can assist with the opioid problem in the United States.

Opioids are powerful pain relievers, but they are also extremely addictive. Overdose deaths involving opioids have grown more than eightfold in the United States since 1999, with more than 550,000 deaths occurring between 1999 and 2020.

Although the United States is at the epicentre of the opioid problem, the issue is becoming a growing public health concern in other nations, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Australia.

Medical cannabis is now legal in the majority of states in the United States, and people are increasingly turning to it instead of opioids to relieve pain. However, there has been little investigation into the practicality of replacing medicinal cannabis for opioids.

To learn more, researchers from Emerald Coast Research, a contract research organisation located in Florida, and Florida State University College of Medicine, conducted an extensive survey of medical cannabis users immediately after the state legalised its use for medicinal purposes.

Anxiety disorders, chronic pain, depression, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress disorder were among the problems experienced by the 2,183 individuals (PTSD). The majority of them used medicinal cannabis on a daily basis.

According to the results of the 66-question poll, 90.6% of participants considered medicinal cannabis to be very or extremely useful in treating their medical condition, and 88.7% stated it was very or extremely important to their quality of life.

85.9% of individuals reported less pain. 84% reported that health difficulties were not interfering with their typical social activities as much as previously, and more than half reported that physical tasks, ranging from housework to jogging, were not as tough as they had been.

The most prevalent adverse effects reported by 68.7% of individuals were dry mouth, increased hunger, and tiredness. Prior to being prescribed medicinal cannabis, 61% of the individuals were using opioids, with 70.5% using them for at least two years. According to another research, 79% of people who had been using opioids were able to discontinue or lessen their use.

The number of those taking hydrocodone and acetaminophen (paracetamol) and oxycodone and acetaminophen (paracetamol), the two most widely used opioids in the research, decreased fivefold.

11.47% of those polled indicated increased everyday functioning. The study's authors, two of whom have financial or economic ties to a medical cannabis firm, claim that their findings show that medical cannabis may be used to manage the pain instead of opioids without hurting health.