Marijuana can help people reduce use of unregulated opioids and manage withdrawals from those substances, according to a new federally funded study.
The research, published in the Journal of Cannabis Research, surveyed 197 people in Vancouver, Canada who reported using both cannabis and unregulated opioids such as fentanyl or heroin.
There was a “significant association between self-reported use of cannabis to manage unregulated opioid withdrawal and reductions in opioid use among cannabis-using [people who use unregulated opioids] living with pain,” the study found.
The relationship between cannabis use and withdrawal management with reduced opioid consumption was especially strong among people experiencing moderate or severe pain.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and the University of California, Los Angeles, found that about half of participants (45.2 percent) said they had used cannabis to manage opioid withdrawal symptoms during the past six months.
Of those participants, 66.3 percent agreed that when they used cannabis, they did not need to consume as much of the opioids they were taking.
After adjusting for factors such as age, gender, race and pain levels, researchers determined that using marijuana to manage withdrawal was associated with more
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