Chronic Pain Patients Support Cannabis Access Expansion While Physicians Favor Restrictions, Study Finds

People suffering from chronic pain are more likely to support policies that expand access to cannabis than the doctors who provide treatment, according to a recent study. published in JAMA network open.

research from rutgers health and other agencies targeted states where medical marijuana is legal and included more than 1,600 people with chronic pain and 1,000 physicians.

People with chronic pain are most supportive of federal legalization of medical marijuana (70.8%), followed by federal legalization of adult-use marijuana, with 54.9% of those asked I support the change.

The majority of chronic pain patients (64%) said they would like their insurance to cover cannabis treatment for their condition, but half of those questioned (50.1%) said they would like to have a medical cannabis program in place. He said he supports a policy change that would require states in the U.S. to provide subsidies to patients with low blood pressure. income.

Of the four policies calling for fixing the national and state-wide cannabis landscape, physicians were most supportive of federal medical marijuana legalization (59%).

Also read: New study shows heavy use of medical cannabis for chronic pain and arthritis in elderly patients

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Interestingly, physicians are more in favor of requiring patients to enroll in their state’s medical marijuana program to access medical marijuana than are physicians suffering from chronic pain (68.1% vs. 49.2%, respectively).

elizabeth stone Cannabis is unique in its complex policy landscape, said the study’s lead author, a core faculty member at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Medical Policy, and Aging Research. ” reported Newswise.

“Depending on which state you are in, medical marijuana may be legal, medical and recreational use may be legal, or neither may be legal. The department’s stuff has been decriminalized,” Stone said. He is an instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “Overall, people with chronic pain are more supportive of policies that expand access to medical cannabis, and health care providers are more supportive of policies that restrict access to medical cannabis.”

Stone’s research is part of a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded project examining the impact of state medical marijuana policies on opioid-related outcomes for people suffering from chronic pain.

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