2. The Cannabis Option The challenges of sheltering have been overwhelming for our vulnerable population. People trying to break the chains of opioid addiction are in this group. Medication Assisted Treatments (MAT) are hard enough to get without a pandemic dropping by. With clinics shuddered and medical practitioners running on after-burners, being addicted to opioids and trying to get straight is causing a setback to progress made. Turning to the street may be easier. That’s a really bad thing.
The real-world data, peppered with a few prospective, but still observational studies, suggest cannabis-based medicine may offer an option.
One example comes from The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at The University of Washington. They studied the use of cannabis as a substitute for opioid medication in an online survey of 2897 opioid patients also using cannabis-based medicine. The vast majority of patients (97%) reported using less opioids when using cannabis-based medicine and experienced more tolerable side effects with the combination than with opioids alone (92%).
The real-world data, peppered with a few prospective, but still observational studies, suggest cannabis-based medicine may offer an option.
One example comes from The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at The University of Washington. They studied the use of cannabis as a substitute for opioid medication in an online survey of 2897 opioid patients also using cannabis-based medicine. The vast majority of patients (97%) reported using less opioids when using cannabis-based medicine and experienced more tolerable side effects with the combination than with opioids alone (92%).