According to a recent Hightimes research, there has been a noticeable rise in the usage of medicinal marijuana in the US. Most U.S. states now permit medical marijuana for a range of conditions thanks to the legalization of marijuana for medicinal use in 39 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and in a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers discovered a significant increase in use since 2013: According to the report, the first state to legalize marijuana between 2013 and 2020 Twenty years later, marijuana usage for a range of medical conditions is still growing on a national scale. The prevalence of marijuana usage for medicinal purposes among Americans climbed noticeably from 1.2% in 2013–2014 to 2.5% in 2019–2020, [an average yearly percentage] of 12.9%, according to some of the study's primary results. Similar large increases in cannabis usage for medicinal purposes were seen across a wide range of sociodemographic and clinical categories. In multivariate adjusted models, being a resident of a state where medicinal marijuana is permitted remained strongly related to using it.
California was the first state to approve medicinal marijuana use in 1996, and in the almost three decades that have followed, medical marijuana has been recognized across partisan lines and in dozens of states. Mississippi, led by Republican Governor Tate Reeves, became the most recent state to allow medical marijuana therapy in late 2022 when he signed a measure into law.
In the last ten years, the legalization of marijuana for adult recreational use has advanced in more than 20 states throughout the US as well as the District of Columbia. The study, which was published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, states that its authors' "goal was to assess temporal trends and correlates of marijuana use for medical purposes." These regulatory changes provide the context for the study in the United States."
In their explanation of the study's methodology, the authors state, "Since 2013, medical marijuana usage was evaluated using a dichotomous question inquiring whether any medical marijuana use among individuals who used marijuana in the prior 12 months was advised by a physician. The average annual percentage change (AAPC) in medicinal marijuana usage was calculated using a modified Poisson model, and analyses were performed for significant sociodemographic and clinical subgroups (data from September to November 2022)." They employed information "from the 2013-2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)."
State-by-state variations exist in the requirements for using medicinal marijuana, but it is well known to be particularly helpful for people with chronic pain and to be a safer alternative to prescribed opioids that are extremely addictive. An association between medicinal marijuana use and better health-related quality of life for those with chronic diseases was discovered in a recent study done in the United Kingdom. The research, which was written up in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, examined 2,833 individuals who were listed on a medicinal marijuana registry in the United Kingdom. (The researchers claimed that 443 of the original 3,546 participants were dropped from the study because they did not submit a "patient-reported outcome measure," or "PROM.)) This new study suggests that [cannabis-based medicinal products] medical marijuana may improve health-related quality of life in patients with chronic conditions. The majority of participants tolerated the medication well, but adverse events were more frequent in female patients and those who had never used cannabis.
The observational study's findings, according to the researchers, demonstrated that the start of a course of treatment with [cannabis-based medicinal products] was connected to improved overall [health-related quality of life] and up to 12 months of sleep and anxiety-specific symptoms in patients with chronic diseases. The majority of patients responded favorably to treatment; however, before beginning the use of [cannabis-based medicinal products], [adverse events] should be taken into account. Additional clinical trials are required to establish causality and create best practices for [cannabis-based medicinal products] treatment.
In the UK, medical marijuana was authorized in 2018, however it may only be administered when other approved medications are ineffective. The researchers' decision to undertake this study was motivated by this constraint. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence currently only recommends CBMPs for severe refractory epilepsy in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, multiple spasticity in adults with sclerosis, and refractory chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, they wrote in the study's introduction. However, the study reports that since 2018, doctors can prescribe cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) in the U.K. for chronic conditions that do not respond adequately to licensed medications. The absence of randomized controlled studies is a result of the difficulties in studying CBMP in this environment, according to the researchers. The results are consistent with those of another research released in January, which revealed that more individuals in the US are using cannabis to relieve chronic pain.
According to a University of Michigan study, 31.0% of adults with chronic pain reported using marijuana for pain relief, 25.9% said they used it to treat their pain in the past year, and 23.2% said they used it in the last 30 days. More than half of those who used marijuana to treat their pain also reported using cannabis. Less than 1% of respondents said that consuming marijuana increased their usage of over-the-counter pain relievers, prescription opioids, and prescription non-opioids.
According to the study, the majority of persons who use cannabis for chronic pain report switching from other painkillers, such as prescription opioids, to cannabis. The high rate of cannabis use as a substitute for opioid and non-opioid treatment emphasizes the significance of further study into the efficiency and possible negative effects of cannabis use for chronic pain. Despite information gaps about marijuana's usage as a painkiller, the results show that state marijuana laws currently authorize the use of marijuana as an analgesic.
In conclusion
Scientific studies have shown that CBD has a significant role in analgesia, a good safety profile, and can also be used as an alternative medicine to relieve cravings and anxiety in opioid addicts and help with withdrawal. The global medical cannabis market is expanding, and the treatment of chronic pain generates a large enough volume and demand for CBD products.
