Use of Cannabis to Relieve Pain and Promote Sleep by Customers at an Adult Use Dispensary

Bachhuber, Marcus A.; Arnsten, Julia H.; Wurm, Gwen

doi:10.1080/02791072.2019.1626953

Cited by 61 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Initial research results look promising. For example, a study recently published in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (2019) found that 80% of people taking legalized marijuana reported it very or extremely helpful; leading to 82% of these people being able to reduce or stop taking over the counter pain medications, and 88% being able to stop taking opioid painkillers (Bachhuber et al 2019 ). Another recent study supported this premise, noting that people using cannabis daily for pain management had a 50% lower odds of using illicit opioids compared to those not using cannabis (Lake et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivations and expectations for using cannabis products to treat pain in humans and dogs: a mixed methods study

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Social media and academic literature suggest that more people are using cannabis to treat their own or their dog’s chronic pain. This study identifies the reasons people use cannabis products to treat their own pain or their dog’s pain and explores whether these products have fulfilled their expectations. Methods An anonymous, online survey was used to collect quantitative and qualitative self-report data on respondents’ perceptions, motivations and expectations about their or their dog’s chronic pain and cannabis use. The analyses are based on U.S. adults who reported using cannabis products to treat their own (N = 313) or their dog’s (N = 204) chronic pain. Quantitative responses from the two groups were compared using Chi-Square tests and qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic analysis. Results Human patients and dog owners reported similar motivations for using cannabis products to treat chronic pain, with the more popular reasons being that cannabis products are natural, are preferred over conventional medication, are believed to be the best treatment or good treatment option for pain. Similar proportions of human patients and dog owners reported that the use of cannabis products fulfilled their expectations (86% vs. 82% respectively, χ2 (1, 200) = .59, p = .32). The qualitative data revealed that their expectations were met by reducing pain, increasing relaxation, and improving sleep, coping, functionality and overall well being. Additionally, the qualitative data suggests that cannabis products offer a return to normalcy and a restored sense of self to human and dog patients. Conclusions The results suggest that people choose cannabis products because they are natural and a possible solution to managing chronic pain when conventional medicines have not been effective. Most people report that their expectations regarding pain management are fulfilled by these products. More accurate assessments are vital, however, for understanding both the objective biomedical and subjective socioemotional benefits of cannabis products for effective pain management for human and dog patients. In addition, objective factual information regarding cannabis products for effective pain management in humans and dogs is needed. It is recommended that both physicians and veterinarians work towards feeling more comfortable proactively broaching the subject of cannabis use with additional training and education.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivations and expectations for using cannabis products to treat pain in humans and dogs: a mixed methods study

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A benefit commonly associated with cannabis is improved sleep, with many people routinely using cannabis as a sleep aid ( 61 , 87 , 88 ). Currently, robust, interventional clinical trials examining the efficacy of medical cannabis in aiding sleep are limited.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Patient Reported Safety and Efficacy of Cannabis From a Survey of Medical Cannabis Patients in Canada

Cahill¹,

Lunn²,

Diaz³

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With the medical use of cannabis permitted in Canada since 2001, patients seek to use this botanical drug to treat a range of medical conditions. However, many healthcare practitioners express the need for further scientific evidence around the use of medical cannabis. This real-world evidence study aimed to address the paucity of scientific data by surveying newly registered medical cannabis patients, before beginning medical cannabis treatment, and at one follow up 6 weeks after beginning medical cannabis treatment. The goal was to collect data on efficacy, safety and cannabis product type information to capture the potential impact medical cannabis had on patient-reported quality of life (QOL) and several medical conditions over a 6-week period using validated questionnaires. The 214 participants were mainly male (58%) and 57% of the population was older than 50. The most frequently reported medical conditions were recurrent pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, sleep disorders [including restless leg syndrome (RLS)], and arthritis and other rheumatic disorders. Here we report that over 60% of our medical cannabis cohort self-reported improvements in their medical conditions. With the use of validated surveys, we found significant improvements in recurrent pain, PTSD, and sleep disorders after 6 weeks of medical cannabis treatment. Our findings from patients who reported arthritis and other rheumatic disorders are complex, showing improvements in pain and global activity sub-scores, but not overall changes in validated survey scores. We also report that patients who stated anxiety as their main medical condition did not experience significant changes in their anxiety after 6 weeks of cannabis treatment, though there were QOL improvements. While these results show that patients find cannabis treatment effective for a broad range of medical conditions, cannabis was not a remedy for all the conditions investigated. Thus, there is a need for future clinical research to support the findings we have reported. Additionally, while real-world evidence has not historically been utilized by regulatory bodies, we suggest changes in public policy surrounding cannabis should occur to reflect patient reported efficacy of cannabis from real-world studies due to the uniqueness of medical cannabis's path to legalization.

show abstract

“…For example, acute/low-dose THC and high-dose CBD may aide sleep, but low-dose CBD and longterm/high-dose THC may interfere with sleep 4 . While cannabis is often associated with being a sleep aid [5][6][7][8][9][10] , repeated cannabis use may lead to tolerance of its sleep-aid properties and consistent use is linked to negative sleep outcomes via habituation 4 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep deficits and cannabis use behaviors: an analysis of shared genetics using linkage disequilibrium score regression and polygenic risk prediction

Winiger

Ellingson

Morrison

et al. 2020

Sleep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Study Objectives Estimate the genetic relationship of cannabis use with sleep deficits and eveningness chronotype. Methods We used linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) to analyze genetic correlations between sleep deficits and cannabis use behaviors. Secondly, we generated sleep deficit polygenic risk scores (PRS) and estimated their ability to predict cannabis use behaviors using linear and logistic regression. Summary statistics came from existing genome wide association studies (GWAS) of European ancestry that were focused on sleep duration, insomnia, chronotype, lifetime cannabis use, and cannabis use disorder (CUD). A target sample for PRS prediction consisted of high-risk participants and participants from twin/family community-based studies (European ancestry; n = 760, male = 64%; mean age = 26.78 years). Target data consisted of self-reported sleep (sleep duration, feeling tired, and taking naps) and cannabis use behaviors (lifetime ever use, number of lifetime uses, past 180-day use, age of first use, and lifetime CUD symptoms). Results Significant genetic correlation between lifetime cannabis use and eveningness chronotype (rG = 0.24, p < 0.001), as well as between CUD and both short sleep duration (<7 h) (rG = 0.23, p = 0.017) and insomnia (rG = 0.20, p = 0.020). Insomnia PRS predicted earlier age of first cannabis use (OR = 0.92, p = 0.036) and increased lifetime CUD symptom count (OR = 1.09, p = 0.012). Conclusion Cannabis use is genetically associated with both sleep deficits and an eveningness chronotype, suggesting that there are genes that predispose individuals to both cannabis use and sleep deficits.

show abstract

Use of Cannabis to Relieve Pain and Promote Sleep by Customers at an Adult Use Dispensary

Cited by 61 publications

References 19 publications

Motivations and expectations for using cannabis products to treat pain in humans and dogs: a mixed methods study

Motivations and expectations for using cannabis products to treat pain in humans and dogs: a mixed methods study

Evaluation of Patient Reported Safety and Efficacy of Cannabis From a Survey of Medical Cannabis Patients in Canada

Sleep deficits and cannabis use behaviors: an analysis of shared genetics using linkage disequilibrium score regression and polygenic risk prediction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About