Patients Prefer Cannabis to Opioids for Pain Relief

A new study is showing that medical cannabis is preferred to opioids and over-the-counter pain relievers for patients with chronic conditions.

The medical cannabis community website HelloMD surveyed 3,000 patients, asking a wide range of questions pertaining to the use of cannabis as a substitute for pain medications. The questions covered both opiate based and non-opiate based pain medications, including Tylenol and other the counter medications.

63 percent of the survey respondents used medical cannabis to relive pain, including that associated with menstrual cramps, arthritis and back pain. Fifty percent of those surveyed smoked cannabis, 31 percent used a vaporizer and ten percent used edibles.

The study was conducted with the University of California Berkeley and published in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. Researchers found overwhelming support for using medical cannabis to lower or replace opiate-based pain medication when treating illnesses and side effects. 93 percent of respondents said that they preferred cannabis them to lower their opiate-based pain medication.  However, only 71 percent believed cannabis was just as effective as opiates for pain relief.

Thirty percent of the respondents said they use an opiate-based pain medication. OF that amount, almost two-thirds used them in conjunction with cannabis.  The survey showed patients believed that their opiate-based pain medication worked better with cannabis use, and 92 percent prefer medical cannabis to their opiate pain medication, with almost all agreeing they would prefer cannabis to opiate pain medications.

64 percent of respondents reported taking pain medication that was not opiate based, such as over-the-counter pain relievers. Of that group, almost all said they used cannabis in conjunction with the pain medications, and believed cannabis worked better than the pain medications.

Over the counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen are a concern for long-term pain management, as research is showing long-term organ damage.

Opiate-based pain medication are dangerous due to their addictive qualities. Opiate-based pain medication prescriptions have quadrupled in the last ten years, and 15,000 people died from overdoses from prescription opiates in 2015 alone.

Medical cannabis has already shown to lower the rates of opiate abuse and hospitalizations in states where it is legal.

The study concluded that a clear majority of patients who deal with chronic pain prefer using medical cannabis to treat it, and that destigmatizing use and legalizing cannabis and cannabis-derived treatments will allow more people to choose cannabis as a treatment option.