Premium
In Case You Haven't Heard…
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alcoholism and drug abuse weekly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7591
pISSN - 1042-1394
DOI - 10.1002/adaw.32877
Subject(s) - cannabis , dispensary , opioid , psychiatry , medicine , population , pill , psychology , family medicine , pharmacology , receptor , environmental health
“Anecdotes do not equal evidence.” This sentence from the op‐ed “Cannabis Will Not Solve the Opioid Problem,” by Kenneth Finn, M.D., in the Oct. 13 issue of MedPage Today , ” sums up his view on the evidence for marijuana for pain. Focusing on “dispensary cannabis,” he says there is no proof that it works. There may be “legitimate uses for cannabis‐based medications in specific disease states,” he writes. But not for pain. Yes, the opioid epidemic originated in the pill mills and pain clinics and excess marketing by “Big Pharma,” he writes. But that doesn't mean marijuana is a substitute for opioids as an analgesic. “There is sufficient data that cannabinoids and opioids share pharmacologic profiles, and some cannabinoids may modulate pain through several understood, and not so well‐understood, mechanisms,” he writes. “They both modulate similar neurotransmitters along the pain pathways and may modulate inflammation, so there is evidence marijuana may be a possible pain reliever. That's good news, right?” Not so fast. Dispensary cannabis, which is where most patients would get the medication, wouldn't work, especially for the cancer patient population. Meanwhile, there has been a steady increase in opioid overdose deaths, even as more and more states approve medical marijuana, he noted. “Anecdotes do not equal evidence,” he said. “I have had a few patients wean off opioids and use their marijuana of choice, not aware of the lack of regulation and a certain level of corruption at local and state levels. Our opioid crisis is worsening despite the expansion and commercialization of marijuana, heavily touted as a pain reliever. Currently, there is zero evidence in the medical literature for the use of marijuana as a medication or as an opioid substitute, particularly with poorly regulated and potentially harmful products. Even in this day of COVID‐19, you hear the outcry for ‘evidence,’ yet in the age of marijuana expansion, the appetite for ‘evidence’ has been completely aborted.” Finn practices pain medicine in Colorado Springs.