Minnesota Expands Medical Cannabis To Chronic Pain Sufferers

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

Medical Marijuana Minnesota Chronic Pain IntracableThis past Monday, Minnesota expanded its medical cannabis program to include individuals who are suffering from severe, chronic and intractable pain. Opening the doors to these patients could bring relief to thousands of people whose pain has not been quelled by traditional treatment techniques.

Before the program opened up to intractable pain, the Office of Medical Cannabis announced that they had 1,827 active patients receiving medical marijuana. Although the numbers haven’t been released yet, likely because it will take some time to sift through all the applications and medical material, state planners project that the number of participants may jump to 5,000 or more.

Proponents hope that the influx of patients will ensure those in pain will get the treatment they need, while current members hope their presence will help lower what some feel are extremely high prices.

Watching Closely

While it’s certainly exciting that people with chronic conditions will have another potential treatment avenue, many doctors are hesitant to fully embrace medicinal marijuana for chronic pain. Many champion marijuana as safer than opioids, which cause more than 300 overdose deaths in Minnesota each year, but we really don’t understand all the compounds in marijuana. It may not lead to overdose deaths, but until we know more about all the compounds in cannabis, we’re not going to be able to treat any patients with pain with any degree of certainty.

Minnesota is one of 25 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana, and the vast majority of those states list chronic pain as a qualifying condition. Studies have also shown that overdoses have fallen in those states with medicinal marijuana, and doctors in those states are writing fewer prescriptions for potentially dangerous opioids.

Hopefully those who truly need relief will be approved and find help through the state’s medical marijuana program. I hope the state reinvests some of the profits into future studies to ensure we are doing everything in our power to keep our patients safe, and so we can better understand how cannabis and pain are related.

For more information about the program, including a list of eligible conditions or how to apply, click here.