Even if some experts believe more research on the effectiveness of medical cannabis is needed, users undergoing the controversial treatment believe it works -- at least for certain conditions.
A little more than 75% of users said they use medical cannabis because other treatments aren't as effective or cause too many side effects, or both, according to the results of a survey conducted by PatientsLikeMe. The patient-powered search network didn't ask participants any further questions about past treatments.
Sally Okun, vice president of Advocacy, Policy, and Patient Safety at PatientsLikeMe, told Forbes that even though the survey didn't ask respondents about previous treatments, it's safe to infer things from the data or prior research.
"For example we know multiple sclerosis has a host of disease modifying treatments," she said. "While we don’t expect people will replace them with medical marijuana, they may be using marijuana to manage associated symptoms that disease modifying treatments such as Baclofen don’t address, including stiffness and spasticity."
She continued: "From prior research we also know that patients living with fibromyalgia experience many problems with sleep, so we might presume that these patients tried marijuana after trying other sleep aids. We also know that people with depression often have other mental and physical symptoms such as anxiety or back pain, or both."
Using medical cannabis assists with treating pain, muscle stiffness or spasm, insomnia and anxiety, the survey found. Another reason why users prefer this drug is because they believe it's more natural.
Okun said the top five conditions represented in the survey were multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
"The respondents are living with a variety of conditions -- in all 70 different primary conditions," she said.
The majority of respondents (60%) said they have a letter of recommendation or prescription for their medical marijuana. Conducted in June 2015, the survey, however, didn't ask the remaining 40% to disclose where they regularly receive their treatments from. PatientsLikeMe surveyed 219 of its own members for the study.
Smoking is by far the most common the method of ingesting medical cannabis (70%). Other top responses included edibles (55%) and vaporizing (49%).
Long-term health risks aren't a concern for the majority of survey respondents, and only a small portion made note of any legal concerns (26%).
"Most of the research done on marijuana has been with people who are using it for recreational purposes," Okun said. "We know very little about its use for medicinal purposes. We need to better understand how different concentrations, doses, and delivery methods influence effectiveness and side effect experiences for people living with acute or long term conditions and symptoms."
She added: "The PatientsLikeMe survey results provide a glimpse into the experiences of a limited number of people but may generate important questions that warrant more in depth study."
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