According to data that was recently published in the American Journal of Public Health, people who regularly use cannabis are likely to stop injecting opioids.
A team of Canadian investigators affiliated with the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use explored the connection between cannabis consumption and IV drug use in a cohort of over 2,000 subjects.
According to the researchers, daily cannabis use was associated with “swifter rates” of opioid injection cessation, and that this use did not increase participants’ likelihood of relapse. The study went on to say that “In the adjusted analysis, at-least-daily cannabis use was significantly associated with increased rates of injection cessation. … To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study to identify a positive association between cannabis use and cessation of injection drug use.”
The study’s authors concluded: “These observations are encouraging given the uncertainty surrounding the impact of cannabis legalization policies during the ongoing opioid overdose crisis in many settings in the United States and Canada, particularly among PWID [people who inject drugs] who are at increased risk for drug-related harm. The accumulating evidence from preclinical and epidemiological studies linking cannabis use to opioid use behaviors further supports the evaluation of the therapeutic benefits of cannabis and specific cannabinoids (e.g., CBD and THC) for people living with opioid use disorder.”