6 New Studies Proving that Cannabis is the Best Solution to the Opioid Problem

The Science Is In: 6 New Studies Proving That Cannabis Is The Only Solution To Our Opioid Problem

Fibromyalgia, arthritis, addiction, you name it – cannabis is the remedy

The years 2016 to 2017 were the worst for opioid-related deaths in the United States, and if we don’t act now, this problem will only continue to get worse. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that in 2017 alone, over 72,000 died from opioid overdoses, which translates to 200 deaths a day. No improvement was seen from the 2016 figures of 64,000 deaths in a year.

But let’s be smart and listen to the data, shall we? Research already proves that cannabis is the only safe and natural solution for tackling the opioid epidemic.

Here are 6 of the latest studies:

Cannabis Consumption Associated With Reduced Opioid Use Among Fibromyalgia Patients

Lower back pain, one of the symptoms of fibromyalgia, can often be so debilitating for patients. But a brand-new study published in the journal, Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, revealed that fibromyalgia patients respond well to medical cannabis. The researchers evaluated the analgesic benefits of cannabis as well as opioids among 31 fibromyalgia patients suffering from lower pack pain. The subjects were given inhaled cannabis with less than 5% THC during a 6-month period.

After the trial period, the patients reported significant improvement in pain when using cannabis compared to when using opioids alone. They also demonstrated an improvement in their range of motion after cannabis, a symptom that did not improve with opioid use. When taking MMJ medicine, most patients voluntarily chose to “decrease or discontinue pharmaceutical analgesic consumption.”

The authors concluded that, “This observational cross-over study demonstrates an advantage of MCT (medical cannabis treatment) in FM patients with LBP (lower back pain) as compared with SAT (standard analgesic therapy). Further studies randomized clinical trials should assess whether these results can be generalized to the FM population at large.”

More Arthritis Patients Choosing Cannabis Over Opioids

A new study which was published in Orthopedic Proceedings revealed evidence that patients suffering from severe forms of arthritis which require reconstructive surgery opt for cannabis instead of opioids to help manage their symptoms.

For the study, researchers studied the results of toxicology exams which were administered to over 520 individuals in 2012 and 2017. They found that the “prevalence of preoperative cannabis use increased from 9% to 15% while the prevalence of opioid use decreased from 24% to 17%.”

Although the researchers say that it isn’t clear if there is a connection between cannabis and opioid use, the findings do suggest that the patients are choosing to use cannabis instead of opioids.

Counties With Cannabis Dispensaries See Reduction In Fatal Opioid Overdoses

A new study conducted by researchers from Claremont McKenna College, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the University of Georgia found that counties which permit medical marijuana dispensaries to operate saw drastically lower incidences of heroin and opioid overdoses, compared to counties that don’t.

The researchers looked at mortality data obtained from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vitality Statistics System. They compared mortality rates among non-Hispanic white males aged 15 to 54 years old during the years of 2009 to 2015 living in counties that had at least one MMJ dispensary. This data was compared to the same demographic in counties that didn’t have any dispensary.

“We find that counties with dispensaries experience 6% to 8% fewer opioid-related deaths among non-Hispanic white men,” write the authors. “Mortality involving heroin declines by approximately 10% following the opening of a dispensary.”

Recreational Cannabis Reduces Opioid Use

A new study published in the journal, Drug and Alcohol Dependence revealed that legalizing recreational cannabis has been linked to a decrease in opioid prescriptions. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California at San Diego, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Weill Cornell Medical College analyzed prescription data for patients enrolled in Medicaid during the years of 2010-2017.

They found “no evidence to support the concern that recreational marijuana legalization increased opioid prescriptions received by Medicaid enrollees.” Additionally, they discovered that in 2015, adult-use cannabis legalization was associated with a 32% drop in the total amount of opioid prescriptions, which revealed a 30% decline in the number of doses plus a 31% decrease on spending towards Schedule III opioids.

Opioid Prescriptions Down In Cannabis-Friendly States

A recent University of Alabama Legal Studies Research paper revealed that legalizing both recreational and medical cannabis leads to a decrease in the number of patients being prescribed opioids. It also leads to a drop in the total number of opioids that have been prescribed, and the total days supply of the prescribed opioids.

To make the analysis, the researchers analyzed data taken from more than 1.3 billion individual opioid prescriptions written from 2011 to 2017. The researchers found that recreational and medical cannabis laws are tied to a 6.9% decrease in opioid prescriptions in fully-legal states while a 6.1% drop was seen in states that legalized only medical cannabis. “In other words, cannabis access laws reduce the average provider’s opioid prescriptions by the equivalent of half a kilogram of morphine,” wrote the researchers.

Cannabis Use Spikes Up, Opioid Use Drops

A study from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed that opioid misuse dropped in 2017 compared to previous years. It indicated that 11.4 million Americans admitted to misusing opioids in 2017 while the figures were 11.8 million in 2016. Additionally, around 26 million Americans aged 12 and up reported consuming cannabis in 2017, while 24 million Americans did so the year before.

Although the study doesn’t necessarily prove that there is a relation among the trends of consumption, it may suggest that access to legal cannabis is linked to a reduction in the misuse of opioids. Almost 60% of individuals who misused opioids state that the main reason for doing so was for treating pain.

Current Studies Not Enough? More In The Pipeline

What else would it take to convince people that cannabis legalization is the key to solving the opioid epidemic? Admittedly, although the statistics are in, we could do with more information on how exactly cannabis works in the human body when it comes to treating the opioid dependency. And more studies are being done.

Last October, Columbia University was awarded an R21 grant by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to work in partnership with medical cannabis company Columbia Care, LLC.

Together, they’ll study how a formulated dose-metered cannabinoid medicine developed by Columbia Care impacts opioid abuse and use in patients suffering from a range of non-cancer-related pain. Specifically, they will be examining pilot data amassed by Columbia Care, an independent group in the school which analyzed opioid consumption trends across 76 neuropathy patients between 18 and 80 years of age in New York, who were given the Columbia Care’s cannabinoid medicine. The pilot study revealed that 62% of the neuropathy patients either stopped or decreased their opioid use while medicating with the cannabinoid drugs regularly within a 9-month period.

Dr. Arthur Robin Williams, MD, MBE, an assistant professor at the Division on Substance Use Disorders in Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry, will be leading the research. “There is an urgent need to investigate the potential impact of cannabinoid use on limiting opioid overdose risk and to determine whether specific products are more beneficial for certain populations of patients with pain and opioid use,” said Dr. Williams.

“We are honored to have garnered the trust of both Columbia University and NIDA through our powerful pilot research using Columbia Care’s dose-metered, precision-manufactured medical cannabis products and are looking forward to expanding upon these results with Dr. Williams and his team in this first-of-its-kind collaboration,” added Rosemary Mazanet, MD, PhD; chair of the scientific advisory board at Columbia Care and chief science officer.

The United States isn’t alone in the opioid epidemic. In Canada, the University of British Columbia (UBC) has just created a new professorship designed to research the potential benefits of cannabis in treating opioid addiction.

M-J Milloy, a research scientist and epidemiologist, has been tasked with the role of Canopy Growth professor of marijuana science at UBC. “Milloy will be Western Canada’s first cannabis science professor at the University of British Columbia and the first professor in Canada focused on researching the role cannabis can play in the overdose crisis,” says Judy Darcy, Addictions Minister. The ministry said that between January and September this year, over 1,100 people have died from alleged opioid overdoses in British Columbia alone.

Milloy will be overseeing clinical trials to better understand how cannabis can assist individuals with opioid use disorders and help them stay on track with their treatment. His past research has already shown that daily cannabis consumption is associated with an increased incidence that patients maintain their treatment, while reducing the likelihood of turning to street drugs especially by the youth. Milloy has already written over 150 peer-reviewed papers surrounding the role of policy in health outcomes among drug users.