A growing number of people in the United States are trying cannabis for pain management as the number of states that have made cannabis (also known as marijuana) legal for medicinal and recreational use increases. A recent research that was published in JAMA Network Open found that approximately one third of people who suffer from chronic pain reported taking cannabis as a method to treat their pain.
More than half of the 1,724 people who participated in the study stated that they had reduced their use of pain prescriptions as a direct result of consuming cannabis. These medications included both opioid painkillers and over-the-counter analgesics. Cannabis also had a range of effects on the use of other non-drug related methods of pain relief. Some individuals reported that cannabis caused them to turn less frequently to techniques that are recommended as first-line therapies by many clinical guidelines, such as physical therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy; however, other individuals with chronic pain reported that cannabis caused them to increase their use of treatments.
