Adults with Chronic Pain Support Cannabis Use More Than Physicians
Researchers asked adults with chronic pain and physicians their opinions on cannabis regulations.
Adults with chronic pain who use cannabis to treat their condition showed more support for policies that expand access to the drug compared to physicians, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.1
Despite patient and clinician opinions, the use of medical cannabis to treat chronic pain is more so becoming commonplace within health care. A total of 47 US states have legalized its use for medical purposes in some capacity,2 while close to a third of adults with chronic pain have reported using cannabis to treat it.3
“Most states have legalized medical cannabis; many have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use,” wrote authors of the study.1 “Given this policy environment, we conducted surveys of physicians and people with chronic pain on support for policies affecting access to cannabis for chronic pain.”
READ MORE: Reducing Opioid Prescriptions for Lower Back Pain Increases NSAID, Paracetamol Use
There are 47 US states that have legalized the use of medical cannabis for medical purposes in some capacity. | image credit: goodmanphoto / stock.adobe.com
Laws regarding cannabis legalization have been debated for many years, with the first state to accept its use for medical purposes being California in 1996.4 However, as laws in the following years expanded cannabis use, and more adults began using it to treat chronic pain, the use and legalization of cannabis for medical purposes is still not widely accepted.
To better understand the public’s feelings toward medical cannabis, researchers conducted a survey of adults with chronic pain as well as physicians who treated chronic pain in a state with a medical cannabis program. Surveys were conducted from March 3 to April 11, 2022, for adults with chronic pain, and from July 13 to August 4, 2023, for physicians.1
“Respondents were asked if they favored or opposed policies expanding access to and increasing regulations on cannabis,” continued the authors. “Responses were measured on a 5-point Likert scale, with responses of ‘strongly favor’ or ‘favor’ indicating support. We compared policy support between people with chronic pain and physicians and by prior use or recommendation of cannabis for chronic pain management.”
A total of 1661 patients with chronic pain (mean age, 52.3 years; 53.4% women; 11.3% Black) and 1000 physicians (mean age, 51.9 years; 63.0% women; 6.3% Black) completed surveys.
Adults with chronic pain showed significantly more support for the expansion of cannabis policies when compared with physicians. Their support was exhibited in their responses to 4 policies that expanded medical cannabis: federal legalization of medical cannabis, federal legalization of cannabis for adult use, requiring insurance coverage of cannabis for chronic pain treatment, and requiring states with medical cannabis programs to provide subsidies for people with low income.
“People who used cannabis for chronic pain reported the highest levels of support for policies expanding access; physicians who had not recommended cannabis for chronic pain reported the lowest levels,” they wrote.1
It may not be a surprise that adults with chronic pain favored medical cannabis use when compared with physicians who have never recommended it to patients experiencing chronic pain. With its continued acceptance in state governments around the country, as well as amongst the public, medical cannabis use has also continued to serve as an increasingly reliable option for treating chronic pain.
“People who used cannabis for chronic pain were most in favor of expanding access, while physicians who had not recommended cannabis to people with chronic pain reported the least support,” they concluded.1 “Most respondents supported training requirements for medical students and physicians on the use of cannabis for chronic noncancer pain. Limitations of this study include the possibility of sampling bias in the web panels used and self-report biases related to issues with recall or social desirability.”
READ MORE: Pain Management Resource Center
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