Medical cannabis users are more likely to restrict cigarette consumption, as study results show

According to a new study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, a significant number of patients with medicinal cannabis report that they have been able to reduce their use of tobacco products.

Researchers from the United States and Canada recruited 2,102 patients who had just enrolled in Canada’s medical marijuana program. From this pool, the researchers identified 650 subjects who were current or former tobacco users. Each of these participants completed an online cross-sectional survey to report their individual demographics as well as past and current tobacco use.

Each subject was asked to indicate how often they consumed tobacco or nicotine products before starting to use medicinal cannabis. The subjects were then asked to keep an eye on their nicotine consumption after they began using medicinal pot regularly. The researchers also asked whether each patient intentionally used cannabis to quit smoking and whether they had ever used other pharmacological or psychological strategies to quit smoking in the past.

Almost half of all patients (49 percent) reported reducing their nicotine intake after starting medical marijuana use. And 25 percent of the subjects said they had completely given up using nicotine or tobacco products after they started using cannabis. Subjects who were 55 years of age or older or who consumed nicotine products more than 25 times a day were more likely to quit tobacco.

The study also found that people who used medical marijuana specifically to curb their nicotine use were more likely than other people to succeed in declining. Patients who had tried traditional smoking cessation therapies or drugs actually reduced their nicotine intake less after using medicinal pot.

“The results of this retrospective survey of medical cannabis users suggest that the onset of medical cannabis use was associated with a self-reported reduction and / or cessation of T / N (tobacco / nicotine) consumption in almost half of the study participants,” concluded the study authors. “Given the significant morbidity, mortality, and health care costs associated with T / N addiction, future research should further evaluate the potential of cannabis-based treatments to support efforts to reduce or cease T / N use.”

The present study complements a small but growing body of research suggesting that cannabis can help people quit their nicotine habits. A 2013 study found that CBD inhalers helped smokers reduce their cigarette consumption by up to 40 percent. A recent study found that subjects given CBD paid less attention to images of cigarettes, suggesting that cannabis compounds can help overcome addiction by altering the brain’s distortion of attention.

Other observational studies have found that younger Americans smoke more weed and less cigarettes, and that weed is actually more popular than tobacco in several major cities. Tobacco companies are starting to see the writing on the wall, and many major cigarette manufacturers have recently started investing heavily in the legal cannabis industry.