Medical Marijuana Helps Most Patients Effectively Treat Chronic Pain, New Study Shows

A new study on cannabis and chronic pain finds that more than 8 in 10 patients who used medical marijuana reported it to be a useful tool for pain management.

“This points to the possibility that cannabis could serve as a safer alternative or complement to standard pain management approaches, potentially helping to address the ongoing opioid crisis,” the study’s senior author—Ari Greis, an orthopedic surgery professor at Drexel University College of Medicine and a board member of the Rothman Institute Foundation for Opioid Research & Education—said in a statement about the findings.

Published this month in the journal Cureus, the report stems from a survey of 129 people who were medical marijuana patients in Pennsylvania between October 2022 and December 2024. It says it “provides important insights into the real-world patterns, perceived efficacy, and cognitive effects of medical cannabis use among individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain who employ cannabis regularly over extended periods.”

“Over 80 percent of patients who turned to medical cannabis found it effective for managing their pain,” co-author Mohammad Khak, a researcher at the Rothman Opioid Foundation, said in a press release about the study.

“Many participants also noted improvements in associated symptoms such as sleep disturbances and anxiety,” Khak added, “suggesting that cannabis may offer a broader range of relief than conventional pain medications alone.”

The report says that the “majority of respondents expressed positive views on the effectiveness of cannabis in improving their main symptom, with 66 (51.1%) strongly agreeing and 55 (42.6%) agreeing with the statement.”

“Long-term [medical cannabis] use is a stable and well-tolerated option for managing chronic musculoskeletal pain.”

Few who were surveyed felt cannabis treatment was ineffective.

“A small portion of seven (5.4%) were neutral, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and only one respondent (0.7%) disagreed,” the study says, “suggesting that most respondents find cannabis beneficial for symptom relief.”

As for mood, “the majority reported that it changed their mood for the better, while a smaller percentage experienced no impact or undesirable effects.”

The nonprofit Rothman Opioid Foundation is a group that aims to raise awareness of the opioid crisis, “educating physicians and patients on safe opioid prescribing and use, respectively, and advising policymakers on sound opioid and pain management policy,” the release says.

Most patients in the study (77.5 percent) reported using marijuana for more than two years, while 22.5 percent said they’d used it for between one and two years.

The most common frequency of dosage among patients was daily (27.9 percent), followed by two to three times per day (23.2 percent). A few patients (3.1 percent) reported using marijuana once a month or less.

Topicals were by far the most popular method of administration, reported by 63.5 percent of patients. Just under half (47.2 percent), meanwhile, reported “consistently using capsules, edibles, oils, or tinctures.”

“In contrast, more intense forms, such as concentrates (e.g., dabs, wax, and shatter), were used by only 12 respondents (9.3%),” the study says.

About eight in 10 patients also reported stable usage patterns over the prior three months, the research found, and most patients—and those around them—felt comfortable with the amount and frequency of their cannabis use.

“When asked if they had ever felt the need to cut back on cannabis use while treating their main symptom, 111 of the respondents (86%) reported no such inclination, while a small proportion of seven (5.4%) indicated that they did feel the need to reduce their use,” authors wrote. “Similarly, when asked if others had ever suggested cutting back on their cannabis use, an overwhelming majority of 128 (99.2%) responded negatively, with only one respondent (0.8%) reporting that they had received such a suggestion.”

“These findings suggest that most individuals do not perceive a need to limit their cannabis use for symptom management,” they added, “nor do they commonly face external recommendations to do so.”

“High levels of perceived efficacy were reported, with over 93% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing that [medical cannabis] improved their primary symptoms.”

Notably, about half of patients (46.5 percent) said they didn’t know their typical dosage of THC, while 47.2 percent didn’t know the amount of CBD they consumed.

Among those who did have a sense of dosage, the “median THC/CBD dose taken by mouth was 10 mg, while most respondents take smaller doses, with a few outliers skewing the mean higher than the median.”

More than seven in 10 patients (72.1 percent) said their use of cannabis had “no effect on their cognitive or motor functions,” according to the study. “A smaller proportion of 16 respondents (12.4%) experienced worse thinking and coordination but noted improvement in their symptoms.”

“Conversely, 17 (13.2%) indicated worse thinking and coordination without any noticeable effect on their overall day,” it continues. “Only three (2.3%) expressed dissatisfaction, reporting worse thinking and coordination, and disliking the effect entirely.”

Authors said the findings underscore “the diverse responses to cannabis and the importance of individualized assessments in understanding its impact on cognitive and motor functions.”

Separate research published last month by Cureus found that CBD helped patients manage chronic pain even at low dosages, making it “a promising alternative to conventional pain management strategies.”

Most patients reported no side effects, while those who did reported only mild effects, the report says. No severe side effects were reported.

“These findings suggest that CBD may serve as a promising alternative to conventional pain management strategies,” that study concluded. “We believe these data point the way for new and continued avenues of research that can better optimize treatment regimens and help patients with chronic pain.”

Past research has suggested that a variety of cannabinoids—including CBD and others—may help ease pain symptoms. A study published in February, for example, found that marijuana and its cannabinoid components may be useful treatments for various types of chronic pain, in some cases helping to reduce the use of other medications

The paper also said select mixtures of cannabinoids—such as cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabigerol (CBG)—could have other benefits, including minimizing undesirable effects like the psychoactivity of THC.

All told, more than 180 different cannabinoids have now been isolated from the cannabis plant, the report noted, often interacting with different parts of the body. CBD and THC, for example, “have a wide potential for therapeutic effects based on their multiple molecular targets including ion channels, receptors, transporters and enzymes.”

“The two most abundant and studied cannabinoids, THC and CBD, along with an understudied cannabinoid, cannabigerol (CBG), have been shown, in our laboratories, to reduce neuropathic pain in animal models,” authors wrote, recommending that further study “into cannabinoids like THC, CBD and CBG should focus on the optimal therapeutic doses and the effects these cannabinoids can have on the management of chronic neuropathic pain in humans.”

Separate research published earlier this year in the journal Pain found that marijuana 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.

The analysis “was able to determine, using causal inference techniques, that use of medical marijuana for chronic pain under medical supervision is at least as effective and potentially more effective in relationship to patients with chronic pain treated by prescription medications (nonopioid or opioid),” said the report, by authors at the University of Pittsburgh, Harvard Medical School and the National Cancer Institute.

A recent federally funded study, meanwhile, found 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.

“These results suggest that substitution of cannabis for traditional pain medications increases as the availability of recreational cannabis increases,” authors of that report wrote, noting that there “appears to be a small shift once recreational cannabis becomes legal, but we see stronger results once users can purchase cannabis at recreational dispensaries.”

“Reductions in opioid prescription fills stemming from recreational cannabis legalization may prevent exposure to opioids in patients with pain,” the paper, published in the journal Cannabis, continues, “and lead to decreases in the number of new opioid users, rates of opioid use disorder, and related harms.”

Other recent research 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.”

“Our findings suggest that broadening recreational marijuana access could help address the opioid epidemic,” that report said. “Previous research largely indicates that marijuana (primarily for medical use) can reduce opioid prescriptions, and we find it may also successfully reduce overdose deaths.”

“Further, this effect increases with earlier implementation of [recreational marijuana legalization],” it added, “indicating this relationship is relatively consistent over time.”

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 published 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 state government report this year 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.

The large-scale study of nearly 10,000 patients also shows that nearly a quarter who were taking other pain relievers reduced the use of those drugs after using medical marijuana.

Another new study on the use of medical marijuana by older patients—age 50 and above—concluded that “cannabis seemed to be a safe and effective treatment” for pain and other conditions.

A separate presentation reviewing research on student athletes’ use of cannabis recently found that marijuana “has demonstrated positive findings as an alternative for pain management among NCAA athletes.”

Yet another study found that 40 percent of military veterans suffering from chronic pain reported using marijuana to treat their symptoms.

Most of them said they use cannabis to deal with pain, mobility and sleep issues, while substantial numbers of veterans also said it helps with PTSD, anxiety and stress. Nearly all participants (98 percent) said healthcare providers should discuss the use of natural products with their patients.

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