Study: Medical Cannabis Quality of Life Benefits Stick Around
Medical cannabis studies tend to focus on straight medical efficacy. The logic behind it is solid. Researchers want to know if cannabis actually does anything for patients. But now, a new study just published in the PLOS One journal looks at medical cannabis from a different angle: quality of life. What they have found is good news for medical cannabis patients.
As things currently stand, cannabis is not a curative treatment for any illness or disease. Rather, it is prescribed as a treatment for relieving symptoms. Take your average chronic pain patient. Medical cannabis might help take the edge off that person’s pain so that they can function fairly normally.
Now, think of the implications of such pain relief. A patient returning to a more normal routine is likely to show improvements in quality of life. That is exactly what researchers were looking at in this latest study.
A Follow Up Study Among Thousands
One of the more fascinating aspects of this study is that it enrolled thousands of people who participated in an earlier study looking into the efficacy of cannabis oil. The original study enrolled 2,744 patients suffering with a variety of chronic conditions. Researchers were able to recruit 2,353 of those original patients for their more recent study on quality of life.
Those patients were followed for a year, completing questionnaires every month to check on their progress. The results were nothing but impressive.
Among those patients reporting improved quality of life within the first three months of cannabis oil treatment, all observed improvements were statistically significant. Furthermore, quality of life improvements continued to persist 12 months later. This led researchers to hypothesize that quality of life improvements is long term as long as patients report improvements early on.
The Caveat: No Control Group
Although the study is good news for medical cannabis patients, there is one especially important caveat: the study had no control group. Researchers were left to hypothesize because they did not have another patient set to compare against.
A control group would have included similar patients who had been treated with conventional treatments instead of cannabis oil. Researchers would have attempted to understand long term quality of life improvements to see if the cannabis oil performed better or worse. And in all likelihood, a placebo group would have been utilized as well.
Outside the Scientific Community
Although the study is by no means conclusive, it does back up the realities of medical cannabis. Millions of people around the country now use it. In Utah alone, patient numbers are approaching 100K. And according to Salt Lake City’s Beehive Farmacy, medical cannabis dispensary, the vast majority of patients in this state use medical cannabis to treat chronic pain.
They say it is not unusual for patients to talk about enjoying a better quality of life after having begun a medical cannabis regimen. In fact, this is why many keep using it. Those who chose medical cannabis after failing with more traditional treatments rave about how cannabis helps them.
When looked at from a purely medical standpoint, it all makes perfect sense. Any treatment that relieves chronic pain – even to the slightest degree – helps a patient take their life back. The more pain relief experienced, the more a patient is able to return to what is considered normal life. And as any psychologist can tell you, a return to normal life goes a long way toward boosting quality of life.
Cannabis users say their drug of choice helps improve quality of life. That is enough for them to keep using it.
