Can Medical Cannabis End the Opioid Crisis?
Since the isolation of morphine and the subsequent production of synthetic opiates and opioids, there has been a paradigm shift in pain management. Opioids became increasingly present in medical records and became one of the first-line drugs for the treatment of pain.
For many years, the use of opioids enabled the management of high-intensity pain and chronic pain. However, all this fueled what we know today as “the opioid crisis;” by the interaction of these drugs with receptors in structures of our nervous system that regulate breathing and cardiovascular activity.
Resulting in high figures of addiction and opioid overdoses that have not stopped increasing in recent decades, leaving an urgent need for new therapeutic options for the treatment of pain.
Due to this, other effective compounds in the treatment of pain have gained popularity in the medical community, among them is medical cannabis.
It has been evidenced that CBD and THC (compounds derived from the cannabis plant) are powerful analgesics and anti-inflammatory, capable of treating some pathologies that occur with pain of strong intensity, and that does not improve with other analgesics.
What Effect Does Medical Cannabis Have on Opioid Use?
In 2019, a study evaluated the effect of CBD on opioid use and chronic pain. It consisted of recruiting a total of 131 patients with chronic pain who had used opioids for at least one year.
Three periods were evaluated, at baseline, at 4 months and at 8 months, where a CBD-rich extract was added to their treatment regimen. The study concluded that more than half of the patients (53%) reduced or eliminated the use of opioids for the treatment of chronic pain. In addition, almost all (94%) reported an improvement in their quality of life.
However, these are not the only data we have to suggest that cannabis could be the answer to the current opioid crisis.
During a systematic review in 2020 on medical cannabis and the use of opioids in chronic pain not associated with cancer, 9 studies involving a total of 7,222 patients were analyzed.
The results determined that there was a reduction in opioid use in 64 to 75% of patients when used in combination with medical cannabis. In addition, 32 to 59% of patients reported replacing opioids with medical cannabis.
Pain is one of the most common symptoms, and sometimes, it becomes one of the most difficult to treat. In many cases it affects the quality of life of patients, and therefore, their mental health.
The use of medical cannabis for the treatment of pain has been widely studied, and according to the evidence, it can be a solution to the opioid crisis, since by the interaction of cannabinoids, such as CBD and THC, pain can be relieved without the risk of overdose.
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