ArticleJournal of studies on alcohol and drugs2015
Use of prescription pain medications among medical cannabis patients: comparisons of pain levels, functioning, and patterns of alcohol and other drug use.
Article in Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- UK Medical Cannabis Registry: an updated analysis of clinical outcomes of medicinal cannabis therapy for hypermobility-associated chronic pain.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Longitudinal analysis of symptoms and healthcare utilization among daily cannabis-using persons living with HIV: impact of co-occurring cocaine use.Journal of cannabis research · 2026Article
- Negative allosteric modulation of CBNeuropharmacology · 2024Article
- A Descriptive Analysis of Adverse Event Reports from the Quebec Cannabis Registry.Drug safety · 2024Article
- Patient Experience and Perspective on Medical Cannabis as an Alternative for Musculoskeletal Pain Management.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2022Article
- A Cross-Sectional and Prospective Comparison of Medicinal Cannabis Users and Controls on Self-Reported Health.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2021Article
- Cannabis against chronic musculoskeletal pain: a scoping review on users and their perceptions.Journal of cannabis research · 2021Article
- Perioperative cannabis use: a longitudinal study of associated clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes.Regional anesthesia and pain medicine · 2021Article
- The cannabinoid CBEuropean journal of pharmacology · 2020Article
- Medical cannabis for chronic pain: can it make a difference in pain management?Journal of anesthesia · 2020Review
- Cannabis Use and Anxiety Sensitivity in Relation to Physical Health and Functioning in post-9/11 Veterans.Cognitive therapy and research · 2019Article
- Medicinal versus Recreational Cannabis Use among Returning Veterans.Translational issues in psychological science · 2018Article
- Factors associated with alcohol consumption among medical cannabis patients with chronic pain.Addictive behaviors · 2018Article
- Prevalence, reasons, perceived effects, and correlates of medical marijuana use: A review.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2017Review
- Synergistic attenuation of chronic pain using mu opioid and cannabinoid receptor 2 agonists.Neuropharmacology · 2017Article
- Recent legalization of cannabis use: effects on sleep, health, and workplace safety.Nature and science of sleep · 2017Article
- Patterns and correlates of medical cannabis use for pain among patients prescribed long-term opioid therapy.General hospital psychiatryArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveManagement of chronic pain is one of the most common reasons given by individuals seeking medical cannabis. However, very little information exists about the concurrent use of cannabis and prescription pain medication (PPM). This study fills this gap in knowledge by systematically comparing medical cannabis users who use or do not use PPM, with an emphasis on understanding whether concurrent use of cannabis and PPM is associated with more serious forms of alcohol and other drug involvement.
methodData from this study were collected from a medical cannabis clinic in southwestern Michigan (N = 273). Systematic comparisons were made on measures of sociodemographics, reasons for substance use, pain, functioning, and perceptions of PPM and medical cannabis efficacy.
resultsPPM users tended to be older and reported higher levels of pain and lower levels of functioning. The overall sample exhibited higher lifetime and past-3-month rates of alcohol and other noncannabis drug use than did the general population. Approximately 40% of subjects reported combining cannabis with alcohol, but no significant difference was observed between PPM users and nonusers. PPM users and nonusers did not exhibit any difference in either lifetime or past-3-month use of other drugs, including cocaine, sedatives, street opioids, and amphetamines. PPM users rated the efficacy of cannabis higher than PPM for pain management and indicated a strong desire to reduce PPM usage.
conclusionsUse of PPM among medical cannabis users was not identified as a correlate for more serious forms of alcohol and other drug involvement. However, longitudinal study designs are needed to better understand the trajectories of alcohol and other drug involvement over time among medical cannabis users.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.