Medical Marijuana Helps Fight Arthritis
According to a new survey, 90% of people with arthritis reported that medical marijuana helps them relieve their symptoms. As reported by Merry Jane, nearly every arthritis patient who tried medical marijuana found it to be an effective treatment.
The online community “CreakyJoints” conducted a survey of 1,059 arthritis patients, asking them to share their experiences with medical marijuana. The results showed that 57% of all respondents had used CBD or other forms of medical marijuana to treat their symptoms.
Among those who tried medical marijuana, 97% said it helped manage their arthritis symptoms. Similarly, 93% of those who tried CBD reported improvements. Patients shared that marijuana helped them relax, improved their physical health, and helped them cope with pain, insomnia, depression, nausea, and fatigue.
However, some patients said they had to stop using medical marijuana, even though it was effective for their symptoms. About 20% of users reported that they could not afford such an expensive treatment. Others said they stopped using marijuana due to concerns about its legal status.
Tien Sidnor-Campbell, one of the patients, spoke about the challenges of obtaining medical marijuana in her home state of Pennsylvania:
“It’s a pretty tricky system because you can’t just go to a dispensary and buy marijuana. First, you have to find a specialist and pay them, get a prescription, then pay for a license, and only then can you go to the dispensary. But when you get there, you look at the price tag and see a cost that’s very different from other medications that are fully covered by insurance. For some, $50 a month is not a small amount.”
About half of the respondents also said they used medical marijuana or CBD in combination with other medications, although the interactions between these drugs have not been thoroughly studied.
More research is needed before medical marijuana can be fully integrated into existing arthritis treatment methods.
“The only way to educate doctors and give them the information they need is to conduct clinically sound research,” said Sidnor-Campbell. “We already know that people are using marijuana to treat their conditions, so it’s time to start studying this now, as soon as possible.”