A new study reported that states that have legalized the sale and use of medical marijuana have seen a 16% decline in opioid prescriptions. The findings were published in the American Journal of Health Economics.
“We were able to leverage the data we had access to in a way that shows the decrease in opioids happens across genders, across ages, across races, across socioeconomic demographics when medical cannabis is available as an alternative,” said lead author of the study, Felipe Lozano-Rojas, assistant professor at the University of Georgia, in a press release.
“Even those who do receive opioid prescriptions received less in situations when medical cannabis was available,” he added.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from claims of millions of commercially insured patients between 2007 and 2020. Medical cannabis laws were linked to a 16% reduction in opioid prescriptions on average, with some individual states seeing declines up to 22%. The researchers also found slight increases in prescriptions for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in states with medical cannabis laws during the same period.
A second, also recently published study found that medical cannabis laws may be linked to reduced opioid use among patients with cancer. The study found that medical cannabis dispensary openings were linked to significant reductions across three opioid-related outcomes: the rate of opioid prescriptions, mean day’s supply per prescription, and the mean number of prescriptions per patient.
Whether or not cannabis truly relieves pain, however, remains uncertain. This partially stems from studies producing mixed results and difficulties in researching the plant. Different growth conditions can produce different cannabinoid profiles, making it hard to standardize and thus compare across studies.
"Although some research suggests that states that legalize cannabis use for medical purposes experience a reduction in opioid prescribing and opioid-related deaths, other research that examines the impact of medical cannabis policies over a longer period of time indicates cannabis legalization is not associated with decreases in opioid overdose deaths and that prior research findings could be coincidental," wrote the CDC on its website.
"Importantly, using cannabis either alone or in combination with opioids has been shown to increase risk for opioid misuse. There is no evidence that cannabis works to treat opioid use disorder. FDA-approved medications are available to treat opioid use disorder," it added.
Sources: American Journal of Health Economics, JAMA Health Forum, Medscape