There is "conclusive or substantial evidence that cannabis or cannabinoids are effective for the treatment for chronic pain in adults."

A study released in January 2017 from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found "evidence to support that patients who were treated with cannabis or cannabinoids were more likely to experience a significant reduction in pain symptoms."  Read the entire report here.  This is super important information because it gives hope that marijuana can help reduce America's dependence on opiate painkillers, which are incredibly addictive and easily fatal.  Read more about our opioid crisis here.  

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However, as we said before, the bottom line to all of this is that we need more, time-extensive research.  A study released in 2014 concluded:  "Medical cannabis laws are associated with significantly lower state-level opioid overdose mortality rates.  Further investigation is required to determine how medical cannabis laws may interact with policies aimed at preventing opioid analgesic overdose."

 

Well, further investigation was done, and a new study reveals:  "Medical cannabis has been touted as a solution to the U.S. opioid overdose crisis since a study by Bachhuber et al. found that from 1999 to 2010 states with medical cannabis laws experienced slower increases in opioid analgesic overdose mortality. That research received substantial attention in the scientific literature and popular press and served as a talking point for the cannabis industry and its advocates, despite caveats from the authors and others to exercise caution when using ecological correlations to draw causal, individual-level conclusions. In this study, we used the same methods to extend the earlier analysis through 2017.  Not only did findings from the original analysis not hold over the longer period, but the association between state medical cannabis laws and opioid overdose mortality reversed direction from −21% to +23% and remained positive after accounting for recreational cannabis laws.  We also uncovered no evidence that either broader (recreational) or more restrictive (low-tetrahydrocannabinol) cannabis laws were associated with changes in opioid overdose mortality. We find it unlikely that medical cannabis — used by about 2.5% of the U.S. population — has exerted large conflicting effects on opioid overdose mortality. A more plausible interpretation is that this association is spurious.  Moreover, if such relationships do exist, they cannot be rigorously discerned with aggregate data. Research into therapeutic potential of cannabis should continue, but the claim that enacting medical cannabis laws will reduce opioid overdose death should be met with skepticism."

 

This just demonstrates that it is difficult to weigh in on the health effects of marijuana because there is still no definitive research on the matter.  The study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine mentioned above says that "evidence regarding the short- and long-term health effects of cannabis use remains elusive.  While a myriad of studies have examined cannabis use in all its various forms, often these research conclusions are not appropriately synthesized, translated for, or communicated to policy makers, health care providers, state health officials, or other stakeholders who have been charged with influencing and enacting policies, procedures, and laws related to cannabis use.  Unlike other controlled substances such as alcohol or tobacco, no accepted standards for safe use or appropriate dose are available to help guide individuals as they make choices regarding the issues of if, when, where, and how to use cannabis safely and, in regard to therapeutic uses, effectively."

 

To learn more about this, 1787 supports the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report's four recommendations to improve the cannabis research agenda.  Read the four recommendations here.

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We'll keep our eye on this.....

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Evidence:

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.  "The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids."  Committee on the Health Effects of   
   Marijuana: An Evidence Review and Research Agenda Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice, Health and Medicine Division.  The National 
   Academies Press:  Washington, DC.  2017

Bachhuber, Saloner, Cunningham, and Barry.  "Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2010."  JAMA
   Internal Medicine.  October 2014

Chelsea L. Shover, Corey S. Davis, Sanford C. Gordon, and Keith Humphreys.  "Association Between Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Overdose Mortality Has
   Reversed Over Time."  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.  25 June 2019

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