Medical hashish legal guidelines haven’t any impact on opioid prescriptions, examine finds

State legal guidelines permitting medical hashish use didn’t scale back prescriptions for opioids or different therapies for persistent, non-cancer ache, in keeping with a coverage evaluation by Weill Cornell Medication investigators.

Dr. Beth McGinty, chief of the Division of Well being Coverage and Economics at Weill Cornell Medication, used a examine design that emulates a scientific trial to research the results of medical hashish legal guidelines on remedy for individuals with persistent non-cancer ache. The outcomes, printed July 4 in Annals of Inside Medication, problem the outcomes of earlier research that steered medical hashish legal guidelines may scale back opioid prescribing, serving to curb the continued opioid disaster in america.

“Some analysis means that maybe medical hashish legal guidelines scale back opioid prescribing for persistent non-cancer ache as a result of some individuals could substitute hashish,” mentioned Dr. McGinty, who was recruited as a professor of inhabitants well being sciences at Weill Cornell Medication. “We discovered no results of those legal guidelines on opioid prescribing or any forms of remedy for persistent non-cancer ache that we checked out.”

Public well being authorities and policymakers hoping to stem the continued opioid overdose disaster in america have taken varied approaches, together with recommending extra even handed opioid prescribing. Some have steered permitting medical hashish to offer sufferers with persistent non-cancer ache an choice with a decrease threat of overdose. However many questions stay about this strategy.

The science could be very a lot nonetheless evolving on how efficient hashish is for persistent non-cancer ache.”

Dr. Beth McGinty, Chief of the Division of Well being Coverage and Economics at Weill Cornell Medication

Questions stay about how efficient hashish is at treating persistent non most cancers ache in contrast with evidence-backed therapies, together with non-opioid ache medicines and bodily remedy.

To know how medical hashish legal guidelines have an effect on persistent non-cancer ache remedy, Dr. McGinty and her colleagues used industrial insurance coverage claims information to research opioid prescribing, non-opioid ache treatment prescribing, and supply of persistent non-cancer ache procedures like bodily remedy in 12 states with medical hashish legal guidelines and 17 states with out such legal guidelines. The workforce used statistical changes to right for any pre-law variations between ache remedy outcomes in medical hashish states and their comparability states.

“It is an observational examine, however we set it up in a means that mimics a scientific trial as intently as doable,” she mentioned.

The examine didn’t discover a important affect on the variety of sufferers with persistent non-cancer ache receiving any prescription opioid, any non-opioid prescription ache treatment, or on procedures used to alleviate persistent ache. Dr. McGinty mentioned the outcomes had been constant throughout states with medical hashish legal guidelines.

“Medical hashish legal guidelines don’t seem like related to adjustments within the prescription opioid or different non-cannabis, non-opioid therapies for persistent non-cancer ache,” she mentioned.

Dr. McGinty acknowledged that the examine has restricted statistical energy, partly as a result of there are solely 50 states, a limitation in any examine of the results of state insurance policies. Investigators might additionally study the results of medical hashish legal guidelines on persistent ache remedy utilizing an information supply that captures medical hashish use along with information on different persistent ache therapies, for instance state prescription drug monitoring applications which might be in some circumstances beginning to embrace medical hashish in addition to opioid prescriptions.

Within the meantime, the examine could present helpful info for policymakers trying to perceive how medical hashish legal guidelines affect prescribing of prescription opioids and supply of different therapies for persistent non-cancer ache.

“Our examine findings recommend that medical hashish legal guidelines don’t considerably scale back opioid prescribing,” Dr. McGinty mentioned. “Policymakers making an attempt to curb extra opioid prescribing and overdoses ought to concentrate on different methods.”