Marijuana vs. Opioids as a Tool for Managing Chronic Pain

by Magnolia Potter

Chronic pain is just that: chronic. It’s incessant and relentless. Sometimes it’s even life changing.

Chronic pain has the ability to impact a person’s mood, health, and overall mental well-being, making it difficult to work, eat, or socialize. With this pain occurring anywhere within the body, as a result of numerous health issues, it can be difficult to find effective treatments for relief.

At least 100 million Americans report suffering from chronic pain, with six in every 10 patients experiencing pain so severe that it has the ability to impact their overall quality of life. With these numbers, it’s no wonder that individuals around the country — and world — are always actively seeking ways to deal with their chronic pain.

The Current Opioid Crisis

Commonly prescribed painkillers like opioids are highly addictive and have the potential to cause death if used incorrectly. However, opioid medications remain the highest prescribed therapy for chronic pain.

The CDC reports that since 1999, prescriptions for opioids have increased by 400 percent in the United States. And while we only make up 4.4 percent of the entire world population, American citizens consume an estimated 30 percent of all opioid medications in the world.

Far more concerning is that there were 20,101 overdose deaths from prescription painkillers in 2015, and the casualties of opioid overdoses has only continued to increase since then.

The numbers alone speak volumes.

When you present the general public with highly addictive opioid medications for long-term pain relief, chances are they will become not only mentally but also physically addicted. This means that we are creating a healthcare system full of too many prescriptions, too many addicts, too many deaths, and too many people in far too much pain.

Benefits of Marijuana for Pain Relief

With many questioning the safety of over the counter (OTC) medications like Tylenol and Naproxen, it’s important to look at the side effects of these drugs as well. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) and acetaminophen can cause serious damage to the liver.

Some studies show that liver failure and acute hepatitis can also occur as a result of prolonged OTC NSAIDS use. With these concerns people around the world are turning to marijuana and CBD derivatives to deal with chronic pain.

Cannabidiol, also known as CBD, is the non-psychoactive part of the plant material that is known to reduce inflammation, relax the muscles of the body, and help control severe seizures. CBD is also found to have pain relief similar to that of opioids but without the toxic and addictive side effects.

Chronic pain is the most studied condition when it comes to the effectiveness of cannabis and cannabinoid formulations. While the causes of chronic pain can be diverse, it typically falls into the category of either nociceptive (caused by tissue damage or inflammation) or neuropathic pain (caused by nervous system issues), yet the treatment strategies seem to stay the same.

In a comprehensive clinical review of 28 different studies, the efficacy of cannabinoids to treat various different medical issues were examined. It was concluded that the use of marijuana for neuropathic pain, chronic pain, and issues with multiple sclerosis provided the highest quality supportive evidence on effectiveness.

The review concluded that 100 percent of chronic pain and neuropathic specific pain studies found a significant improvement among patients. Most of the studies used synthetic cannabinoids, but over half of the neuropathic pain studies showed the correlation between smoking cannabis flower and pain relief.

Implementing Marijuana into Your Pain Management Routine

Adding marijuana into your chronic pain management routine should be discussed with your physician. Before you start or stop any medication you will need to consult with your prescribing physician.

Find the Right Dosage:

According to Leafly, patients find the most relief out of indica dominant strains. They provide higher contents of THC than typical Sativa or hybrid strains. They’ve found that indica strains can be extremely effective in low doses, but can actually make pain worse if ingested in higher dosages. Insuring that you receive the proper amount of cannabinoids is important.

Consume High Quality Cannabis, the Right Way:

Aim to purchase flower from growers who maintain a constant circulation of sanitized air for their plants for the healthiest medicine, and who does consistent mold testing throughout their cultivation and selling process. Air sanitation is an important factor to be aware of when purchasing marijuana. Many different types of fungal microorganisms can negatively impact the health of both the plant material itself, and as well as your own health.

Consume Correctly:

While smoking is the most commonly recognized way to ingest marijuana, technology has brought us a long way into the future of medicating. Vaping technology heats the cannabis at a precise temperature into a very fine vapor. This prevents burning the toxins that come out of the plant when it is smoked traditionally. Because there is no combustion involved, it is considered to be a much healthier method of marijuana consumption than traditional smoking.

Edibles can be a great way to get the benefits of cannabinoids without having to inhale smoke.

A company called AXIM Biotech is testing out a controlled-release chewing gum that delivers CBD directly to the digestion system in hopes of helping those with irritable bowel syndrome. Healthline says that the company is also testing out gum with a combination of THC and CBD to treat pain associated with multiple sclerosis.

Gary Hiller, the president and CEO of Phytecs — a biotech firm — says that, “There’s a clear need for new therapeutic strategies to safely manage acute and chronic pain,” adding that “the 4,500-plus years of reported therapeutic use of cannabis is merely the opening chapter to something much more significant.”

Not only will this plant continue to grow, but so will its potential in modern medicine. With the FDA recently approving a CBD derivative drug, marijuana seems destined to become a staple in healthcare as a safe and effective tool for individuals managing chronic pain.