Gainesville, FL: IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) patients report reduced opioid consumption and improved quality of life following their use of cannabis, according to survey data published in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
Researchers affiliated with the University of Florida at Gainesville surveyed 108 IBD patients. Study participants had a history of cannabis use and were diagnosed with either Crohn’s Disease or ulcerative colitis.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents “reported improvement in their quality of life with marijuana use.” Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said that cannabis improved their ability to live independently. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said that “marijuana use had reduced their opioid consumption,” a finding that is consistent with numerous other studies.
“Patients with IBD are a unique population who sometimes rely on marijuana for management of their debilitating disease related symptoms,” the study’s authors concluded. “With legalization of marijuana continuing to expand across the United States, more and more patients with IBD will be turning towards it as a means of improving their QOL [quality of life]. … Our study is a steppingstone in bridging the knowledge gap in the health outcomes of patients with IBD using marijuana and adding to an evidence-based patient education approach for physicians caring for this population.”
Survey data published in 2021 reported that over half of IBD patients acknowledge having tried cannabis for symptom relief. The results of a 2025 British observational study concluded that IBD patients experience sustained improvements in their health-related quality of life following their use of cannabis products.
Full text of the study, “Marijuana use for symptom control in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Patients’ perceptions and patterns of use,” appears in Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids. Additional information on cannabis and IBD is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids.