New Haven, CT: Hospice patients administered plant-derived CBD-dominant capsules experience significant pain relief and reduce their daily opioid intake, according to data published in the American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Care.
Researchers affiliated with Yale University assessed the efficacy of the adjunctive use of cannabis products in a cohort of 66 hospice patients. Subjects in the study were administered oral capsules containing either 40mg CBD/1.5mg THC or 80mg CBD/3mg THC. All patients enrolled in the study were taking opioids for pain management.
Investigators reported: “Combination therapy led to a statistically significant reduction in pain intensity over time, aligning with previous research suggesting that cannabinoids … can modulate pain pathways and enhance the analgesic effects of opioids.”
They further acknowledged, “The average opioid dose used in combination with medical cannabis in our study decreased over time – while patients simultaneously showed statistically significant improved pain scores. While the decrease in opioid dose did not reach statistical significance, this trend may support a stabilizing effect of combination therapy on opioid dose.”
The study’s authors concluded: “Our study highlights the potential benefit of medical cannabis co-administration with opioid therapy for pain management in hospice inpatients, demonstrating statistically significant pain reduction over time with minimal adverse events. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence supporting the use of medical cannabis as an adjunctive treatment for pain management.”
The findings are consistent with those of other studies reporting that the co-administration of either smoked cannabis or oral cannabinoids augments the pain-relieving effects of opioids, even when both substances are administered at subtherapeutic doses.
Full text of the study, “Medical marijuana for pain management in hospice care as a complementary approach to scheduled opioids: A single arm study,” appears in the American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Care. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Relationship Between Marijuana and Opioids.’