The use of medical cannabis products is associated with...

The use of medical cannabis products is associated with substantial long-term decreases in the daily use of prescription opioids among patients suffering from chronic pain, according to data published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open.

Researchers affiliated with the State University of New York at Albany and with the New York State Department of Health assessed the impact of medical cannabis on opioid use patterns in a cohort of over 8,000 chronic pain patients receiving long-term opioid therapy (LOT). Subjects were studied for a period of eight months.

Investigators reported that patients’ daily MME (morphine milligram intake) diminished following cannabis therapy and that this decline grew more significantly over time.

The findings are consistent with numerous other studies documenting that patients frequently use cannabis for pain mitigation, and that many patients either reduce or eliminate their consumption of opioids and other medications following the initiation of cannabis therapy.