Study: Medicinal cannabis use reduces opioid prescriptions in patients with osteoarthritis

By Nicolas Jose Rodriguez

Osteoarthritis (OA) can cause significant pain, often requiring pain management with opioids, which can be addictive. According to a study conducted by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University and the Rothman Orthopedic Institute in Philadelphia, medicinal cannabis has the potential to be an alternative to opioids for chronic pain conditions.

The study acknowledges the current opioid crisis in the US, including “opioid-related deaths nearly quadrupled between 1999 and 2015, and 37.8% of adults using opioids in 2015.”

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According to the report, opioids have shown statistically significant “but small improvements in the management of chronic pain at the expense of dose-related risks of substance abuse disorders, addiction, overdose, and death.”

However, the researchers found that opioid use for osteoarthritis rose from 13.4% to 17% between 2007 and 2014, despite increased awareness of their side effects.

“Population studies show that legalization of medical cannabis has been associated with reduced opioid overdose mortality, fewer opioid-related hospitalizations, and reduced opioid prescribing. However, there is insufficient evidence to date that medical cannabis can be an effective substitute for opioids.”

The study, titled “Medical Cannabis Use Reduces Opioid Prescriptions in Patients With Osteoarthritis,” examined whether medical cannabis used to treat OA-related chronic pain could at least reduce opioid use.

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Researchers studied 40 patients with chronic OA pain who were certified to use medicinal cannabis. The average morphine milligram equivalents per day of opioid prescriptions filled within the six months prior to medical cannabis certification were compared to those six months after. Researchers monitored pain and global health scores at baseline and three and six months after cannabis certification.

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They found that the average morphine milligram equivalents prescribed per day decreased from 18.2 to 9.8 (n=40, p<0.05). Likewise, the percentage of patients who dropped to 0 was 37.5%. Pain scores "decreased significantly at three and six months, and the Global Physical Health score increased significantly at three months," the report said.

Medicinal cannabis “reduces opioid prescription for patients with chronic OA pain and improves pain and quality of life,” the researchers concluded.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.