TDNet Discover

Background: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is defined as a chronic relapsing illness associated with the misuse of opioid medications or the use of illicitly obtained heroin. The epidemic of opioid, heroin, and synthetic OUD has caused the deaths of 450,000 people from 1999 to 2018 from overdose alone. In 2019, there were 49,680 opioid-related overdose deaths. Hundreds of thousands more have lost their futures, their families, and their financial stability due to OUD. Treatment options for OUD are limited with extensive side effects. Objective: To investigate the effects of cannabis legalization and/or cannabis treatment on the frequency of relapse or the length of treatment in patients with OUD. Methods: An evidence-based medicine systematic review was completed by researching datum among sites including PubMed, Google Scholar, Galileo, Cochrane Database, and Elsevier using search phrases like “cannabis AND “opioid use disorder” “opioid use disorder” AND treatment AND cannabis “opioid addiction” OR “opioid use disorder” AND cannabis AND treatment “peer reviewed” “systematic review” OR “cohort study” OR “random controlled study”. The following limits were applied: full text, English language, human research, journal article, peer reviewed and from inception to current without a time frame. The study population had to include those with a current or history of OUD, medical marijuana use among opioid users and exclude participants with comorbid conditions. Results: The final articles investigated state legislation’s effect on medical cannabis (MC) use, the substitution effect involving MC and opioid painkillers, the efficacy of MC on chronic pain, and opioid mortality in states with MC legislation. Across all articles, statistical significance was found in favor of MC legalization and use in the treatment of OUD, decreasing opioid use and opioid-induced mortality. Conclusion: These researchers conclude that the use of cannabinoids alone or as an adjunct to currently accepted treatments of OUD, does decrease the frequency of opioid use, relapse and could decrease the length of first-line treatments for OUD and these results warrant further investigation