Study: Medical Cannabis Treatment Reduces Daily Morphine Intake in Chronic Pain

[orthene]

https://norml.org/news/2022/01/27/study-medical-cannabis-treatment-reduces-daily-morphine-intake-in-chronic-pain-patients/

Pittsburgh, PA: The use of cannabis products is associated with a reduction in pain patients’ daily consumption of opioids, according to data published in the journal Pain Physician.

A team of investigators affiliated with the Institute for Pain Medicine in Pennsylvania assessed opioid use trends in a cohort of 115 chronic pain patients who initiated medical cannabis therapy. Patients in the study suffered from intractable pain and had consumed opioids for a period of at least six-months. The majority of the study’s participants were between 50 and 70 years of age.

Consistent with other studies, authors reported that patients reduced their daily morphine milligram equivalent (MME) intake after initiating cannabis therapy.

“There was a 67.1 percent average decrease in daily MME/patient from 49.9 to 16.4 MME at the first follow-up,” they reported. “There was a 73.3 percent decrease in MME at the second follow-up from 49.9 to 13.3 MME.”

Authors concluded: “The current study’s approach has led to a significant decrement in chronic opioid use for the majority of patients with chronic pain deciding to trial medical cannabis in our clinical setting. … Therefore, we present medical cannabis as an alternative, potentially effective, class of treatment.”

Full text of the study, “Medical cannabis used as an alternative treatment for chronic pain demonstrates reduction in chronic opioid use — A prospective study,” appears in Pain Physician.

Link to the study abstract:  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35051158/

[jones]

I have found that mixing opiates with ibuprofen can make a percocet last twice as long, can't say if it works with morphine...

[orthene]

Hydrocodone is mostly prescribed in pill form with 325 mg. of acetaminaphen, but there is also a hydro/ibuprofen version. Physician told me that most deaths from abuse come from toxicity of too much acetaminaphen, rather than the opiate itself. I don't know if there are toxicity issues on the ibuprofen end. If not, I wonder why that would not be the preferred method.

Maybe ibuprofen is not as effective in conjunction with the opiate, but Tylenol won't touch my headaches while ibuprofen knocks them out. Or maybe ibuprofen is not as toxic in larger amounts, giving the perception that abusers could use more without the worry of toxicity?

[3V1L9371U5]

Wow.  Just wait'll somebody tells 'em what kratom can do.

[jones]

Vicoprofen has been a fav of mine for a couple of decades, it's hydrocodon & ibuprofen--The ones I used to get were in caplet form