This study was focused around 1,000 Americans from Colorado, which found 80% of the individuals taking cannabis for pain reported it to be extremely helpful resulting in 82% of the subjects being able to either stop or reduce use of over the counter pain medications, 88% were able to stop taking opioid painkillers, and more than 83% were able to stop or reduce use of over the counter and prescription sleep aids.
“Approximately 20% of American adults suffer from chronic pain, and one in three adults do not get enough sleep,” said Dr. Gwen Wurm.
“People develop tolerance to opioids, which means that they require higher doses to achieve the same effect. This means that chronic pain patients often increase their dose of opioid medications over time, which in turn increases their risk of overdose.” said Dr. Julia Arnsten.
“The challenge is that health providers are far behind in knowing which cannabis products work and which do not,” said Dr. Wurm. “Until there is more research into which cannabis products work for which symptoms, patients will do their own ‘trial and error’ experiments, getting advice from friends, social media and dispensary employees.”
