Study: Most Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Cannabis Patients Stop Treatment Within One Year

A recent study of Pennsylvania medical cannabis patients who were registered to treat chronic musculoskeletal pain found that over 50% of patients had ceased using medical cannabis within one year. A majority of medical cannabis patients who are prescribed cannabis to treat chronic musculoskeletal pain stop using medical cannabis within one year, according to a new study published in PLOS One, an online, peer-reviewed journal.

Researchers with the Rothman Institute Foundation for Opioid Research & Education in Philadelphia found that in their study of 78 cannabis patients who were registered for the Pennsylvania medical cannabis program for chronic musculoskeletal pain, 57.9% of participants ceased using medical cannabis within one year. Additionally, among those who stopped, 44.7% had ceased within three months of starting the treatment.

The study authors called the results a “key finding … [that] suggests that a large proportion of patients may experience dissatisfaction, intolerance, or prefer alternative treatments such as surgery or joint injections for managing chronic musculoskeletal pain.”

The authors noted, however, that after one year, 42.1% of patients chose to continue using medical cannabis or seek recertification to the program, suggesting there is a significant subset of chronic pain patients who “perceive sustained benefits” from medical cannabis, which is “consistent with previous studies.”

Researchers checked in with the participants twice during the study — once at three months and again at twelve — but noted that follow-up data was only available for 76 of 78 patients.

The study, “Discontinuation rates and predictors of Medical Cannabis cessation for chronic musculoskeletal pain,” was published on August 7.