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More than 50 million Americans, or 20% of the US population, experience chronic pain. But commonly prescribed treatment options like opioids are proving catastrophic, underscoring the need for alternatives.
To date, chronic pain has a total direct and indirect cost of up to $635 billion per year. It affects nearly 50 million American adults, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Opioids are among the most commonly prescribed medications to treat and manage it. In 2023 alone, around 125 million opioids were dispensed to American patients to relieve chronic pain.
The opioids crisis has become an epidemic. The CDC estimates there are more than 1,000 emergency department visits daily relating to opioid misuse, and an average of 91 deaths daily.
Currently, opioid drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Meanwhile, there have been zero deaths documented from cannabis, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Cannabis as an Alternative for Chronic Pain
A study in the Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research journal indicated cannabis can be an effective and safer treatment for chronic pain than opioids.
The study found 97% of respondents “agreed” they are able to decrease the amount of opiates they consume when they also use cannabis. Another 81% “agreed” cannabis itself was more effective at treating their condition than taking cannabis with opioids.
The study also indicated cannabis reduces the chance of dependence and eliminates the risk for fatal overdose compared to opioid-based medication.
While cannabis proves to be an effective pain treatment—it may also help ease opioid addictions.
Interestingly, research shows that the use of prescription drugs is decreasing in states where medical cannabis is legal. The results suggest that cannabis can potentially mitigate the opioid epidemic.
Ryan Marino, an addiction medicine specialist and professor at Case Western Reserve University’s school of medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, told The Guardian he has seen some of his patients successfully use cannabis to get off or use less opioids.
Although Marino said there is not yet enough scientific data to fully suggest that cannabis could help the majority of people struggling with opioid disorder, “if it helps one person to not use or not have an overdose, [than] that’s worth more than any amount of evidence.”
“Honestly, a life saved is a life saved,” Marino said.
Although more research is needed, one study supports the theory that cannabis can help with addiction symptoms.
A 2015 study did take a look into how cannabis can assist detox programs. It found that dronabinol, a legal, synthetic form of THC, soothed withdrawal symptoms. The researchers also tracked patient’s cannabis use after leaving detox in-patient treatment. They found people who smoked cannabis during their outpatient treatment were twice as likely to complete the detox program.
Moving Forward
As of April 2023, only 38 states, three territories and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of cannabis. Kansas, Nebraska, and Idaho remain the three states with no legal medical or adult-use cannabis.
Most Americans not only live in states where some form of cannabis is legal—most are in favor of it. As of 2022, 88% of US adults say cannabis should be legal for both medical and recreational use.
Cannabis is currently listed as a Schedule I substance by the DEA, alongside heroin and LSD—substances that officials deem as drugs with, “High abuse potential with no accepted medical use; medications within this schedule may not be prescribed, dispensed, or administered.”
But this year, there has been a plan to move the substance to Schedule III. This come per the recommendation from the Department of Federal Health and Human Services. This will put the substance alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids.
The recommendation comes after President Joe Biden called for a federal review of cannabis law in October 2022, stating that, “many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana.”
Schedule III substances are still controlled substances and subject to rules and regulations, but are deemed less abusive.
“The attorney General circulated a proposal to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III,” Justice Department director of public affairs Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement. “Once published by the Federal Register, it will initiate a formal rulemaking process as prescribed by Congress in the Controlled Substances Act.”
The plant’s federal status remains uncertain. But it’s clear that Americans want and need alternatives to traditional pain treatments. And cannabis is proving to be an effective option.
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