Adults with chronic pain are significantly more supportive of policies expanding cannabis access than the physicians who treat them, according to a study from Rutgers Health and other institutions.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, surveyed more than 1,600 people with chronic pain and 1,000 physicians in states with medical cannabis programs, including N.J. Researchers found that 71% of chronic pain patients supported federal legalization of medical cannabis, compared with 59% of physicians. “Cannabis is unique in terms of the complicated policy landscape,” said Elizabeth Stone, a core faculty member at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research and lead author of the study. “Depending on what state you’re in, it could be that medical cannabis is legal, it could be that medical and recreational use are legal, it could be that neither is legal, but some things are decriminalized.”
Currently, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical cannabis use – and N.J. and 23 more of those states (plus D.C.) have legalized it for adult recreational use. However, cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law. Schedule I drugs are considered to have the highest risk of abuse with no recognized medical use, according to the National Institutes of Health. Among those polled for the study, 55% of chronic pain patients, but 38% of physicians, supported federal legalization of cannabis for adult recreational use. Some 64% of patients, but 51% of physicians, favored requiring insurance coverage for cannabis treatment of chronic pain. To read the full story.