A Fresh Look at a Recent Study
There’s a new study out that’s turning some heads, it’s all about the relationship between cannabis and opioids. In today’s post we’re going to be taking a quick look at this article and how cannabis can be a huge help for anyone who needs an alternative to opioids.
Researchers across the pond at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use and UCLA teamed up to dig into whether marijuana could be a powerful tool in battling the opioid overdose crisis with very promising results. Between December 2019 and November 2021, they surveyed 205 people who use cannabis and opioids without a prescription. Nearly 60% of them said they were motivated to use marijuana to curb those opioid cravings. And, not just that, the data showed that using cannabis was “strongly tied” to self-reported drops in opioid use.
This is the first-ever study, as far as the researchers know, that looks into using cannabis on purpose to deal with opioid cravings, especially when people are getting painkillers from dodgy sources. There’s always the risk of getting something nasty when you’re dealing with unregulated products.
The study’s authors say that making cannabis more accessible for therapeutic use could be a nifty way to lessen the risks and harm tied to unregulated opioids during this ongoing drug crisis.
As always it’s essential to ask who is funding a study, particularly ones related to medicine. Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) footed the bill. One of the authors even has backing from cannabis company Canopy Growth to do more research into marijuana science at the University of British Columbia.
But wait, there’s more! This study isn’t alone. There’s a growing body of research suggesting that marijuana could be swapped in for both legal and illegal substances, including prescription drugs.
For example, another recent study linked medical marijuana use to less pain and a drop in dependence on opioids and other medications. Chronic pain patients who used medical cannabis for over a month reported significant reductions in prescribed opioids, according to the American Medical Association (AMA). About one-third of chronic pain patients are now choosing cannabis as an alternative to traditional pain meds.
Even state-level marijuana legalisation in the US is linked to big reductions in the prescribing of opioids like codeine. Plus, another study last year showed that legal access to medical cannabis can help people cut down or even quit opioid painkillers altogether, without any hit to their quality of life.
Bottom line? There’s a growing chorus of voices—backed by studies, reports, and real-world observations—that are singing the praises of cannabis as an alternative to pharmaceuticals like opioid-based painkillers.
We don’t have the same levels of opioid addiction in the UK we still have a hidden demographic who suffer daily, this is an option that could give people a new lease of life. It’s nice to get a bit of positive news once in a while right 🙂