In a new study, researchers found that medical marijuana users who say they have high levels of pain are more likely than those with low pain to say they use cannabis three or more times a day.
However, daily marijuana users with severe pain also reported their health had become worse in the past year.
The results don’t necessarily mean that marijuana is not effective in treating at least some kinds of pain, according to the researchers.
But it suggests more research is needed before marijuana is accepted as an effective treatment for severe pain.
The research was conducted by a team at Ohio State University.
The complex relationship between pain, marijuana use, and self-reported health is an important issue.
Having high chronic pain is related to poorer health, so it may be that people who are using marijuana more often already had worse health to begin with.
The study used a survey of 295 medical marijuana dispensary patients in Los Angeles. The surveys were conducted in 2013 when California allowed marijuana use only for medical purposes.
All participants were asked how often they used marijuana; rated how their current health compared to one year ago (on a five-point scale from “much better” to “much worse”); and were asked two questions about their pain levels. Based on their answers, the researchers rated participants’ pain as low, moderate or high.
Among those surveyed, 31% reported high pain, 24% moderate pain, and 44%were in the low-pain category.
Daily marijuana use was reported by 45% of the sample, and 48% said they used three or more times per day.
The percentage of participants who used marijuana every day did not differ by pain categories.
But about 60% of those who reported high pain used the drug three or more times a day, compared to 51% of those with moderate pain and 39% of those in the low-pain group.
Findings showed no association between daily marijuana use and change in health status among those with low levels of pain.
But daily marijuana use was linked to worsening health status among those reporting high levels of pain.
However, strangely, there was no association between how often participants used marijuana per day and changes in health status. There’s no easy explanation for this.
The team says people use marijuana for a variety of different types of pain, including cancer, joint pain, HIV and nerve pain.
Researchers don’t know if marijuana has different effects on different causes of pain.
Chronic pain is also associated with depression and anxiety. Marijuana may help with these problems for some people, even if it doesn’t help with the pain.
In addition, marijuana use seems to help people who have lost their appetite due to pain or nausea caused by cancer drugs.
It may not be the pain that patients are trying to address.
One author of the study is Bridget Freisthler, a professor of social work at Ohio State University.
The study is published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.
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