Farmington, CT: Cannabis consumers use fewer opioids following neck fusion surgery than do their non-consuming counterparts, according to case-control data published in the North American Spine Society Journal.
A team of researchers affiliated with the University of Connecticut School of Medicine assessed opioid utilization trends following neck fusion surgery in patients with and without a history of cannabis use. Over 2,600 patients participated in the study. Participants were monitored for 60 days following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgery.
Investigators reported that subjects with a history of cannabis use were less likely than non-users to fill opioid prescriptions in the days immediately after the surgery. At 60 days, cannabis consumers required lower daily doses of opioids than did controls.
âDaily MME [morphine milliequivalent] doses in the cannabis group were below 50 MME for prescriptions filled within 60 days postoperatively whereas the control group was at the 60 MME level at the same time point,â authors reported.
They added: âThe 50 MME threshold is important as studies have suggested that opioid doses above 50 MME per day are significantly associated with an increased risk of opioid related death and/or hospitalization. This suggests that patients using cannabis may be at a reduced risk of opioid dependence than nonusers.â
The findings are similar to those of several other studies suggesting that cannabis possesses opioid-sparing properties post-surgery.
Full text of the study, âCannabis use is associated with decreased opioid prescription fulfillment for single level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF),â appears in theNorth American Spine Society Journal. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, âRelationship Between Marijuana and Opioids.â
H/T: NORML.org
