Toronto, Canada: The daily use of cannabis over a six months provides pharmacological support for patients seeking to reduce their use of prescription opioids, according to data published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience.
Six hundred chronic pain patients participated in the study. Each of the subjects indicated their desire to taper off opioids over the course of treatment. Patients typically consumed between one and three grams of cannabis per day during the study period.
After six-months, 156 patients (26 percent) had ceased taking opioids and an additional 329 subjects (55 percent) reduced their opioid intake by an average of 30 percent.
"Medical cannabis provided pharmacological support throughout the tapering process … [and] was very helpful to many patients," the study’s author concluded. "The positive results justify further investigation."
Full text of the study, "A pilot study of a medical cannabis – opioid reduction program," appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. Additional information is available from the NORML fact-sheet, ‘Relationship Between Marijuana and Opioids.’