By Healthesystems
The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency recently rescheduled marijuana, moving Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved and state-regulated medical marijuana products to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. Among other downstream impacts, this decision will allow for fewer restrictions on clinical research and is anticipated to accelerate drug development and support evidence-based FDA oversight of marijuana-derived products – many of which apply to pain management.
While more research is certainly needed to understand the clinical impacts of marijuana, substantial clinical evidence already demonstrates that marijuana can benefit patients experiencing chronic pain and neuropathic pain. Let’s explore marijuana’s potential role in pain management.
A Mixed Consensus
Back in 2015, a systemic review and meta-analysis by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) concluded that there was “moderate-quality evidence to support the use of cannabinoids for the treatment of chronic pain.” However, more recent studies show that medical consensus remains mixed.
For instance, the Department of Health and Human Services and FDA believe there is credible evidence that marijuana can help treat pain. By contrast, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention remains undecided, while the American College of Physicians and American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine believe there is a lack of credible evidence for the use of marijuana in the treatment of pain.
Promising Research
Regardless of these varying stances, research into marijuana’s ability to treat pain – and its relationship to opioid use – has continued. Here are some of the most compelling studies and surveys regarding marijuana and pain management:
- A JAMA study from 2017-2019 looked at 8,165 patients in the New York medical cannabis program who previously received long-term opioid therapy. Patients received medical cannabis and then were sorted into two groups – those who continued using it after 30 days, and those who did not. Among the patients that continued using medical cannabis, opioid Morphine Milligram Equivalents (MME) decreased 47-51%, yet MME only decreased 4-14% in the group that did not continue to use medical cannabis.
- A 2023 JAMA survey found that among chronic pain patients in medical cannabis programs who used medical cannabis to manage pain, over half said it led them to decrease their use of prescription opioids, prescription nonopioid drugs, and over-the-counter pain medications.
- At a population level, a Workers Compensation Research Institute study from 2023 found that the adoption of state recreational marijuana was associated with a 9.7% decrease in claims with opioids in workers’ comp.
- A 2023 study from Health Economics found that states with legal recreational cannabis laws saw a 26% reduction in the amount of codeine dispensed at retail pharmacies.
- According to a September 2025 article in Pain and Therapy, VER-01, a cannabis-derived medication, demonstrated positive results for the treatment of lower-back pain in two separate Phase 3 clinical trials. One trial found VER-01 to be superior to opioids for pain reduction in patients with chronic low-back pain.
An Evolving Issue
The above findings suggest marijuana has influenced opioid utilization in multiple settings, and that the rescheduling of marijuana may increase that impact. However, all of this will be dependent on evolving clinical research and drug development.
Stay tuned for more updates on how marijuana plays out in the workers’ compensation space as a tool in pain management. In the meantime, learn more in our RxInformer magazine article, Rescheduling Questions: How the Marijuana Landscape Could Soon Change.
