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• Posted October 4, 2024

Folks With Chronic Pain & Their Doctors Often Differ on Medical Marijuana

If you're in chronic pain and believe medical marijuana to be the solution, there's a good chance your doctor might not agree.

In a new survey of people living in states where medical cannabis is legal, 71% of people with chronic pain thought the federal government should legalize the drug, but only 59% of physicians thought so.

The survey, which included 1,600 people diagnosed with chronic pain and 1,000 physicians, also found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of patients thought insurance should cover medical cannabis, while just over half (51%) of doctors thought so.

And when it came to marijuana for recreational use, the divide was even more pronounced: 55% of chronic pain patients thought it should be made legal nationwide, but only 38% of physicians agreed.

"Overall, people with chronic pain were more supportive of the policies that would expand access to medical cannabis, and providers were more supportive of the policies that would restrict access to medical cannabis," said study lead author Elizabeth Stone. She's an instructor in psychiatry at Rutgers University's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J.

Her team published its findings recently in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Access to medical and recreational marijuana currently varies widely state to state. Right now, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical cannabis use and 23 more of those states (plus D.C.) have legalized it for adult recreational use.

"Cannabis is unique in terms of the complicated policy landscape," Stone said in a Rutgers news release. "Depending on what state you're in, it could be that medical cannabis is legal, it could be that medical and recreational use are legal, it could be that neither is legal, but some things are decriminalized."

Her team's survey focused on adult chronic pain patients with non-cancer pain that had lasted six months or more. Doctors surveyed included primary care physicians and certain types of specialists.

Not surprisingly, patients who'd already used (and perhaps benefited from) medical marijuana were most supportive of expanded access, the study found. And doctors who said they'd never recommended medical cannabis for pain relief were the most reluctant to advocate for broader access.

However, the medical use of marijuana for pain appears to be here to stay, and 70% of both patients and doctors thought that medical schools should be training future doctors on its use.

All of this "points to the need for future guidance around cannabis use and efficacy," Stone said. "Is it something they should be recommending? If so, are there different considerations for types of products or modes of use or concentration?"

More information

Find out more about marijuana for pain relief at Harvard Health.

SOURCE: Rutgers University, new release, Oct. 2, 2024