A whopping eight in 10 marijuana consumers say they use cannabis, at least in part, as an alternative to traditional prescription drugs, according to a new poll.
The survey from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD, which was shared exclusively with Marijuana Moment, asked cannabis consumers a simple question: “Do you use cannabis as a replacement for prescription medication?”
Of the 485 respondents, 79.6 percent affirmed that they did, in fact, use marijuana as a substitute to pharmaceuticals, compared to 20.4 percent who said they did not.
“Pharmaceutical interests know the substitution effect cannabis has on their products is real,” Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, told Marijuana Moment. “Federal prohibition locks in a lot of demand for their addictive and potentially fatal drugs by depriving millions of Americans of legal access to the plant, and I can’t name a single interest aligned with Big Pharma that’s stated support for ending it.”
“Our newest poll shows the substitution effect may well be a lot higher than the pharma industry thinks that it is,” he said. “It estimates that around 40 million Americans use cannabis to some degree as a replacement for prescription drugs. That’s costing Big Pharma billions annually in lost profits.”
“I genuinely want Big Pharma to see this data and decide to spend yet more resources fighting against the plant. Because the more noise they make against cannabis, the more popular our movement becomes. They are that unpopular,” Graham added.
Notably, a majority of respondents in the survey sample did not report having a state medical cannabis card, indicating that the substitution effect extends beyond the registered patient population.
Meanwhile, in May a study on marijuana legalization’s effect on workers’ compensation finds that while the policy change is associated with a “gradual increase” in workers’ comp claims, the average cost per claim in fact fell after the reform—as did patient use of prescription drugs, especially opioids and other painkillers.
Other research on the use of medical cannabis for pain has found that it was “comparatively more effective than prescription medications” for treating chronic pain after a three-month period, and that many patients reduced their use of opioid painkillers while using cannabis.
A recent federally funded study, for example, shows that legalization of marijuana in U.S. states is associated with reduced prescriptions for opioid pain medications among commercially insured adults—indicating a possible substitution effect where patients are choosing to use cannabis instead of prescription drugs to treat pain.
Additional recent research has also showed a decline in fatal opioid overdoses in jurisdictions where marijuana was legalized for adults. That study found a “consistent negative relationship” between legalization and fatal overdoses, with more significant effects in states that legalized cannabis earlier in the opioid crisis. Authors estimated that recreational marijuana legalization “is associated with a decrease of approximately 3.5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.”
Another recently published report into prescription opioid use in Utah following the state’s legalization of medical marijuana found that the availability of legal cannabis both reduced opioid use by patients with chronic pain and helped drive down prescription overdose deaths statewide. Overall, results of the study indicated that “cannabis has a substantial role to play in pain management and the reduction of opioid use,” it said.
Yet another study, published in 2023, linked medical marijuana use to lower pain levels and reduced dependence on opioids and other prescription medications. And another, published by the American Medical Association (AMA) last February, found that chronic pain patients who received medical marijuana for longer than a month saw significant reductions in prescribed opioids.
About one in three chronic pain patients reported using cannabis as a treatment option, according to a 2023 AMA-published report. Most of that group said they used cannabis as a substitute for other pain medications, including opioids.
Other research published that year found that letting people buy CBD legally significantly reduced opioid prescription rates, leading to 6.6 percent to 8.1 percent fewer opioid prescriptions.
A 2022 research paper that analyzed Medicaid data on prescription drugs, meanwhile, found that legalizing marijuana for adult use was associated with “significant reductions” in the use of prescription drugs for the treatment of multiple conditions.
A 2023 report linked state-level medical marijuana legalization to reduced opioid payouts to doctors—another datapoint suggesting that patients use cannabis as an alternative to prescription drugs when given legal access.
Researchers in another study, published last year, looked at opioid prescription and mortality rates in Oregon, finding that nearby access to retail marijuana moderately reduced opioid prescriptions, though they observed no corresponding drop in opioid-related deaths.
Other recent research also indicates that cannabis may be an effective substitute for opioids in terms of pain management.
A report published recently in the journal BMJ Open, for instance, compared medical marijuana and opioids for chronic non-cancer pain and found that cannabis “may be similarly effective and result in fewer discontinuations than opioids,” potentially offering comparable relief with a lower likelihood of adverse effects.
Separate research has found that more than half (57 percent) of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain said cannabis was more effective than other analgesic medications, while 40 percent reported reducing their use of other painkillers since they began using marijuana.
In Minnesota, meanwhile, a recent state government report on chronic pain patients enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program said recently that participants “are finding a noticeable change in pain relief” within a few months of starting cannabis treatment.
Beyond pharmaceuticals, financial analysts said last year that they expect the expansion of the marijuana legalization movement will continue to post a “significant threat” to the alcohol industry, citing survey data that suggests more people are using cannabis as a substitute for alcoholic beverages such a beer and wine.
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