December 12, 2024 (press release) –
Salt Lake City, UT: Chronic pain patients enrolled in Utah’s medical cannabis access program significantly reduce their opioid intake, according to an analysis provided to the state’s Medical Cannabis Advisory Board.
Researchers assessed prescription opioid use trends in 157 patients enrolled in the program. They reported: “In this population, 157 patients (84.4 percent) showed a decrease in Morphine Milligram Equivalents (MME) per month after starting cannabis use. Specifically, there was a 53.1 percent reduction. The mean MME/month in the period before cannabis use was 3832 MMD/Month, and after starting cannabis we observed a mean of 1798 MME/Month.”
Analysts also acknowledged that opioid-related overdose deaths fell significantly following the adoption of the cannabis access program. “This shift suggests that the introduction of cannabis as a therapeutic alternative may have contributed to a reduction in opioid use among patients seeking pain relief,” they wrote.
Numerous other studies have similarly documented reduced opioid use in pain patients following their use of medical cannabis.
The study’s authors concluded, “The results from this study align with previous literature indicating that medical cannabis can serve as an effective adjunctive therapy for chronic pain, leading to a significant reduction in opioid use.”
Full text of the analysis, “Impact of Cannabis on Opioid Prescriptions in Chronic Pain: Insights from Recent Research in Utah,” is available online. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘.’
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