More Canadians Using Cannabis for Pain Relief

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Chronic pain sufferers in the United States and Canada are increasingly turning to cannabis for pain relief. The latest evidence of that is a large survey of people in pain in Quebec, Canada.

Of the 1,344 participants who answered questions about their cannabis use, nearly a third (30.1%) said they used cannabis for pain management, far more than those who used it for other health conditions (9.1%) or for recreational purposes (12.7%).

The online survey was conducted in 2019, a few months after recreational cannabis was legalized in Canada in October, 2018.  Prior to full legalization, cannabis use by Canadians living with chronic pain was estimated at 10% or less.

“Based on studies conducted before the legalization of recreational cannabis, the prevalence of cannabis use estimated in the present study indicates a threefold increase in reported usage,” researchers reported. “Because people living with CP (chronic pain) have reported using even more cannabis during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems reasonable to expect the prevalence to be even higher today. Our results suggest that cannabis is a common treatment reported by people living with CP and underscore the importance of rapidly generating more evidence on the safety and efficacy of cannabis.”

The survey findings, recently published in the Canadian Journal of Pain, show that pain sufferers under the age of 26 were most likely to use cannabis (36.5%), while those aged 74 and older were least likely (8.8%). Three out of four respondents reported living with pain for at least 5 years. Over two-thirds (67.7%) said they had moderate to severe pain.

A 2021 Harris Poll found that twice as many Americans are using cannabis or CBD to manage their pain than opioid medication. Over-the-counter pain relievers were used by over half (53%) of those surveyed, followed by cannabis products (16%), non-opioid pain relievers (11%) and opioids (8%). Two-thirds of Americans with chronic pain (66%) said they had changed their pain management since the pandemic began, and were using more OTC pain relievers and cannabis products.

Neither the Harris or Canadian surveys specifically asked respondents if they were using cannabis for pain relief because opioids were harder to obtain. Opioid prescribing in the U.S. and Canada has declined significantly in the past decade due to more restrictive medical guidelines and fears about abuse.