Canadian study finds ‘significant reduction’ in opioid use in medical cannabis patients

Another study has linked the prescription of medical cannabis to a reduction in opioid use in chronic pain patients.

Canadian researchers have found that chronic opioid users were able to reduce their consumption after being authorised to take medical cannabis.

Researchers affiliated with the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto studied the effect of medical cannabis authorisation on opioid use between 2013 and 2018 in Alberta, Canada.

A total of 5,373 medical cannabis patients, with an average age of 52 and defined as chronic opioid users were matched to controls for the study.

All of the patients prescribed medical cannabis by their health care provider.

Patients’ use of opioids was studied for 26 weeks before and 52 weeks after medical cannabis was prescribed by their healthcare provider.

The researchers then evaluated the change in weekly opioid consumption, as measured by the oral morphine equivalent (OME).

Patients prescribed lower doses of opioids showed a showed an increase in OME, however those on higher doses showed a ‘significant decrease’ in consumption over six months.

Writing in the study’s abstract the authors stated: “The opioid overdose epidemic in Canada and the United States has become a public health crisis – with exponential increases in opioid-related morbidity and mortality. 

“Recently, there has been an increasing body of evidence focusing on the opioid-sparing effects of medical cannabis use (reduction of opioid use and reliance), and medical cannabis as a potential alternative treatment for chronic pain.”

They concluded: “This short-term study found that medical cannabis authorisation showed intermediate effects on opioid use, which was dependent on initial opioid use.

“Continued surveillance of patients utilising both opioids and medical cannabis is warranted by clinicians to understand the long-term potential benefits and any harms of ongoing use.”

Opioid use in medical cannabis authorisation for adult patients from 2013 to 2018: Alberta, Canada, was published in the journal BMC Public Health.

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