Fed-Funded Study Finds Increase In Medical Marijuana Patient Enrollments, Chronic Pain Most Common Reason
The state-legal medical marijuana programs nationwide have seen an uptick in the number of new patients enrolled since 2020, according to newly published federal research in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
The study, conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the University of Michigan, showed that there were 4.1 million registered medical cannabis patients in 2022 countrywide, compared to 3.1 million in 2020. That’s a 33.3% increase over two years.
Researchers proposed that the increase is simultaneous with “increasing cultural acceptance of cannabis, recognition of the harm of the ‘war on drugs’ (for example, mass incarceration and related consequences, such as family separation, trauma, and economic loss), and interest in the potential therapeutic properties of cannabis,” reported Marijuana Moment.
This and other scientific breakthroughs in the cannabis space will undoubtedly be discussed at the upcoming Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference In Florida on April 16 and 17.