THC > Opioids
Numerous studies have come to the same results: there’s promising evidence that cannabis functions as a substitute for prescription drugs, particularly opioids. Cannabis access is associated with reduced rates of opioid use and abuse, opioid-related hospitalizations, opioid-related traffic fatalities, opioid-related drug treatment admissions, and opioid-related overdose deaths.
Cannabis as an alternative for opioids
For example, in one compelling study, for patients who took at least one dose of medical marijuana, 48.14 percent experienced an improvement in pain, 44.95 percent used fewer opioids, and 85.11 percent had an improvement in at least one symptom. Adverse effects were low at 3.72 percent. In another study, patients with chronic pain profited from long-term cannabis usage, which safely and significantly lowered the consumption of opioids, even at low dosages. For women, low-dose THC may be sufficient. These are just a few sample studies demonstrating that chronic pain patients are less likely to abuse medicinal cannabis as compared to opioids.
Additionally, chronic pain patients are less likely to become depressed using medical cannabis. Studies show levels of depression and anxiety are higher among chronic pain patients receiving prescription opioids compared to those receiving cannabis. These findings should be taken into consideration when deciding on the most appropriate treatment modality for chronic pain, particularly among those at risk for depression and anxiety.
Cannabis use may mitigate opioid-related cravings. A growing body of research has reported on the potential opioid-sparing effects of cannabis.
Think whole, unrefined plant food ingredients with unique health properties.
1 Sura KT, Kohman L, Huang D, Pasniciuc SV. Experience With Medical Marijuana for Cancer Patients in the Palliative Setting. Cureus. 2022 Jun 28;14(6):e26406. doi: 10.7759/cureus.26406. PMID: 35915672; PMCID: PMC9337788. 2 Gastmeier K, Gastmeier A, Rottmann F, Herdegen T, Böhm R. Cannabinoide reduzieren den Opioidverbrauch bei älteren Schmerzpatienten : Eine retrospektive Dreijahresauswertung einer ambulanten kassenärztlichen Praxis [Cannabinoids reduce opioid use in older patients with pain : Retrospective three-year analysis of data from a general practice]. Schmerz. 2022 Apr 6. German. doi: 10.1007/s00482-022-00642-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35384481. 3 Feingold D, Goor-Aryeh I, Bril S, Delayahu Y, Lev-Ran S. Problematic Use of Prescription Opioids and Medicinal Cannabis Among Patients Suffering from Chronic Pain. Pain Med. 2017 Feb 1;18(2):294-306. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnw134. PMID: 28204792. 4 Feingold D, Brill S, Goor-Aryeh I, Delayahu Y, Lev-Ran S. Depression and anxiety among chronic pain patients receiving prescription opioids and medical marijuana. J Affect Disord. 2017 Aug 15;218:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.04.026. Epub 2017 Apr 21. PMID: 28453948. 5 Meacham MC, Nobles AL, Tompkins DA, Thrul J. "I got a bunch of weed to help me through the withdrawals": Naturalistic cannabis use reported in online opioid and opioid recovery community discussion forums. PLoS One. 2022 Feb 8;17(2):e0263583. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263583. PMID: 35134074; PMCID: PMC8824349.
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