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The use of medical cannabis was associated with a significant reduction in opioid use among chronic pain patients, according to the results of a recent study. The research, which was published by the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Internal Medicine, showed that participation in New York’s medical cannabis program “was associated with significantly reduced prescription opioid receipt.”
The study, conducted by researchers at Montefiore Medical Center, the University of Arizona, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and City University of New York, included 204 participants from New York’s medical cannabis program. All patients in the study were prescribed opioids for pain management and were “newly certified for medical cannabis use between September 2018 and July 2023.”
The researchers monitored the participants’ use of cannabis and opioids throughout the 18-month study, using data from New York’s prescription monitoring program. At the study’s onset, most participants reported high levels of pain and were taking an average daily opioid dose equivalent to 73.3 mg of morphine.
Patients’ Opioid Use Declined While Using Medical Cannabis
The researchers determined that the average use of opioids decreased during the months that participants incorporated cannabis into their pain treatment routine. Study participants reported 3.53 fewer morphine milligram equivalents (MME) in daily opioid use, compared to chronic pain patients who did not use medical cannabis. Over the 18-month follow-up period, the average daily dose fell to 57 mg, a 22% reduction.
“Those changes may seem small, but gradual reductions in opioid use are safer and more sustainable for people managing chronic pain than stopping suddenly,” Deepika E. Slawek, M.D., M.S., the study’s lead author, noted in a press release from Montefiore Health System.
“Chronic pain and opioid addiction are two of the most pressing health challenges in the United States. Our findings indicate that medical cannabis, when dispensed through a pharmacist-supervised system, can relieve chronic pain while also meaningfully reducing patients' reliance on prescription opioids,” said Slawek, who is also an associate professor of medicine at Einstein and an internal medicine and addiction medicine specialist at Montefiore. “Supervised use of medical cannabis could be an important tool in combating the opioid crisis.”
The authors of the study wrote that “participation in NYS’s medical cannabis program was associated with reduced prescription opioid receipt during 18 months of prospective follow-up, accounting for unregulated cannabis use,” according to a report from Marijuana Moment.
“Our study was novel in that we prospectively studied medical cannabis provision in an exceptionally medicalized program with involvement of pharmacists and clinicians,” the authors wrote.
“In this prospective, longitudinal cohort study, participation in NYSMCP as determined by pharmacist-reported days of medical cannabis dispensed was associated with a reduction in prescription opioid receipt,” the researchers wrote. “Our findings add to existing evidence that suggests that medical cannabis may be a substitute for prescription opioids in patients with chronic pain.”
Julia Arnsten, M.D., M.P.H., the study’s senior author and a professor of medicine, epidemiology and population health, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences
“This research adds to the growing body of evidence supporting a medicalized model of cannabis use, where pharmacists are actively involved in dispensaries and cannabis is treated like other prescription drugs,” said Arnsten, who also serves as the chief of the division of general internal medicine at Montefiore Einstein. “We hope these findings will lead to new policies encouraging the effective management of chronic pain through the use of regulated substances.”
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The information in this article and any included images or charts are for educational purposes only. This information is neither a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional legal advice or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about laws, regulations, or your health, you should always consult with an attorney, physician or other licensed professional.
