Someone who has never used cannabis before might find it difficult to understand why a chronic pain patient would choose it over traditional prescription medications. After all, cannabis has not enjoyed a great reputation in this country since the 1970s. Still, patients have their reasons.
Chronic pain is the most often cited reason for using medical cannabis in Utah, according to the operators of Brigham City’s Beehive Farmacy, a medical cannabis dispensary. They say the majority of the patients they see every day experience persistent pain as one of their symptoms – if not the primary symptom that drove them to apply for the medical cannabis cards.
Beehive Farmacy operators also say that their patients offer a number of reasons as to why they choose medical cannabis over other options. Some of them are listed below, along with additional information I picked up doing my own research.
1. Perceived Pain Relief
There are undoubtedly some patients who have chosen to go right to medical cannabis before trying other prescription medications. They have heard good things about cannabis; they just assume that it will work for them. These patients might find relief based more on their perceptions of cannabis than anything else.
Though conflicting study data exists, a prominent study released a couple of years ago showed little difference in pain relief between medical cannabis and placebo. This led researchers to suggest that cannabis did not relieve pain through any actual biological function. Instead, relief was directly related to patient perception.
2. Dissatisfaction With Other Treatments
I am not so sure I believe the perception thing. However, I do know that some patients rely on medical cannabis because they have been dissatisfied with other treatments. Some have tried opioids only to decide they did not want to be on them long term. Others have tried prescription NSAIDs that did not work.
It is no secret that no medical therapy on the planet works 100% of the time. Not even the most rigorously tested therapies work for everybody. And given the very personal nature of pain, I would not be surprised to learn that most chronic pain patients don’t get adequate relief from traditional treatments. That would be enough to send some of them to medical cannabis.
3. Fewer Potential Side Effects
Moving on, how many medical cannabis users have chosen cannabis because they believe it comes with fewer potential side effects? At least one group – former opioid users – can actually make a legitimate case in this regard.
We know how dangerous opioids are. We have all heard stories about addiction, overdoses, and deaths. Medical cannabis is by no means perfect. It has its own side effects to consider. But compared to opioids, medical cannabis is a lot less dangerous.
4. Treating Other Symptoms Simultaneously
For one particular group of medical cannabis patients, cannabis serves to treat multiple symptoms: cancer patients. Medical cannabis could be recommended primarily to help relieve treatment pain. But it also helps with chronic nausea. Some cancer patients even find that it helps relieve anxiety and depression.
PTSD patients often report similar experiences. Treating their conditions with medical cannabis translates into relief from insomnia, nightmares, anxiety, and depression. One medication does it all rather than a patient having to rely on three or four prescriptions.
PTSD aside, chronic pain is still the main complaint among the majority of medical cannabis users. They all have their reasons for choosing cannabis over other treatments. Who are any of us to question their motives? Pain is a very personal thing. So is the treatment thereof. And for some people, medical cannabis is the way to go.
