As more people in North America have access to medicinal cannabis, fewer people are using opioids, suggesting cannabis has a harm reduction role; nevertheless, the health effects of this trend are mostly unknown. Self-reported medical cannabis use, health-related quality-of-life, and opioid pain medication use among Florida's medicinal cannabis users are presented in this study.
Methods Patients (n = 2,183) were recruited from medical dispensaries throughout Florida and were given a 66-item cross-sectional survey to complete, which included questions about demographics, health, and medication use, as well as questions from the Medical Outcomes Survey (SF-36) to evaluate health functioning before and cbd oil Brisbane.
The majority of respondents (95%) were white, 54% were female, 47% had jobs, and 85% were in their 20s to 70s. The most often reported categories of illness were those related to either mental health (28.86%), pain (9.07%), or both (47.92%). As for restrictions, physical and emotional health issues remained constant, whereas physiological discomfort, physical functioning, and social functioning all showed improvement. The majority of patients reported that using medical cannabis had a significant impact on their wellbeing. Sixty-plus percent said they had tried other painkillers before turning to medical cannabis, and of those, 93.36 percent said they no longer needed them. After starting medicinal cannabis, most patients (79%) said they no longer needed pain medication, and another 11.4% said they were able to function better.
The results imply that soon after medicinal cannabis was legalized, some patients reduced their opioid use without negatively impacting their quality of life or well functioning. Alternative pain medications, such as medical cannabis, are examined, along with its public health consequences.
Details to remember
Patients using medical marijuana for the treatment of various conditions, such as chronic pain and mental illness, have indicated that the drug has improved their quality of life and helped them better cope with their symptoms.
After starting medical cannabis, patients reported better health in terms of pain management, physical and social functioning, but their impairments from physical or mental health issues remained unchanged.
After medical cannabis is made more widely available, people with chronic pain may be able to reduce or eliminate their need of opiate-based pain medicines.
The Basics
Patients using cannabis for medical purposes have indicated that the drug has improved their quality of life and helped them better manage symptoms of conditions like chronic pain and mental illness.
Limitations due to physical or emotional difficulties did not change, but improvements in physiological pain, physical functioning, and social functioning were observed after the start of medical cannabis use.
Soon after medicinal cannabis is made more widely available, people with chronic pain may need to use less or no opiate-based pain medicine.
Legalizing medicinal marijuana has the potential to improve public health by decreasing the need for opioids without negatively impacting quality of life for patients.
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