11 states have laws pertaining to low-THC, high-CBD cannabis.
0 states have repealed effective medical cannabis laws.
In total, 49 states acknowledge the medical benefits of cannabis.
Medical Cannabis and Opioids
64% decrease in opioid use among chronic pain patients in Michigan who used medical cannabis[1]
48% reduction in patients’ opioid useafter three months of medical cannabis treatment[2]
78% of patients either reduced or stopped opioid use altogether[3]
1,826 fewer doses of painkillers on average per year, per state, for patients participating in Medicare Part D[4]
Prescription Medications
Nearly 247,000 people died in the United States from overdoses involving prescription opioids from 1999 to 2019. Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2019.[5]
20% of prescriptions are “off label” — prescribed for a condition for which they are not FDA-approved.[6]
0 people have died from cannabis overdoses in all of recorded history.
Number of Patients
1.5% of a state’s population, on average, enrolls in the medical cannabis program, for a total of nearly 4 million patients.[7]
In comparison, 32% of American adults received an opioid prescription in the past two years, and 18% received one in the past year. [8]
24% of the U.S. population took three or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days.[9]
Qualifying Conditions
38 states’ programs include a general category for severe or chronic pain or allow cannabis if opiates have been or could be prescribed for the condition.
36 states include PTSD as a qualifying condition. Alaska and South Dakota are the only exceptions.
Research
10,000 studies were reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which led them to find:[10]
Conclusive or substantial evidence that cannabis or cannabinoids are effective in the treatment of chronic pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and multiple sclerosis spasticity symptoms;
No link between smoking cannabis and lung cancer; and
No gateway effect.
50% of Crohn’s patients who used medical cannabis entered complete remission and 45% found significant improvement in symptoms.[11]
75% reduction in symptom scores were reported when PTSD patients were using cannabis compared to when they were not.[12]
Hundreds of thousands of patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, seizure disorders, chronic, severe, and persistent pain, and other debilitating illnesses find that cannabis provides relief from their symptoms.
[1] KF Boehnke, et al., “Medical Cannabis Use Is Associated With Decreased Opiate Medication Use in a Retrospective Cross-Sectional Survey of Patients With Chronic Pain,” Journal of Pain, June 2016.
[2] Staci A. Gruber, et al.,“Splendor in the Grass? A Pilot Study Assessing the Impact of Medical Marijuana on Executive Function,” Front. Pharmacol. 13 October 2016, Vol. 7.
[3] “The Cannabis and Opioid Survey,” Healer.com, 4 October 2016.
[4] Ashley C. Bradford et al., “Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Prescription Medication Use In Medicare Part D,” Health Aff.July 2016, Vol. 35 no. 7.
[6] Radley, David C., Finkelstein Stan N., and Stafford, Randall S., “Off-label Prescribing Among Office-Based Physicians," Archives of Internal Medicine 166 (9), 2006: 1021–1026.
[8] "One-Third of Americans Have Received an Opioid Prescription in the Past Two Years ," NORC at the University of Chicago, Sept. 27, 2018.
[9] "Health, United States," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019, table 39.
[10] “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research,” National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, January 2017.
[11] Timna Naftali, et al., "Treatment of Crohn’s Disease with Cannabis: An Observational Study,” Israel Medical Association Journal (2011).
[12] Greer, GR, et al., “PTSD symptom reports of patients evaluated for the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program,” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2014 January-March;46(1):73-7.
[13] Journal of New England Medicine survey, February 2013.