What Health Conditions Do Patients Use Medical Marijuana To Treat? New Study Sheds Light

Recently published data from tens of thousands of medical marijuana patients across the U.S. show that pain, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are the leading conditions qualifying patients for state medical cannabis programs.

Notably, a majority of patients (58.6 percent) also reported having multiple medical conditions that they treat with marijuana. Among those with co-occurring conditions, the analysis found, anxiety and chronic pain were most common, followed by insomnia, muscle spasms and PTSD.

“The average patient reported at least two conditions, indicating that medical cannabis users often face complex health challenges,” the company Leafwell, which provided data for the study, said in a blog post about the findings. “This complexity suggests that healthcare providers and policymakers need to think beyond single-condition treatments and consider how cannabis fits into broader healthcare strategies.

The report was authored by researchers at Leafwell—a platform for obtaining medical marijuana cards—along with Duke University Medical School and the University of San Diego’s Center for Cannabis Research. The team looked at anonymized data from more than 81,000 Leafwell patients across 32 states who used the service in 2022. Results were published in the journal Population Medicine.

Authors said the findings “represent a further step towards understanding the complex co-occurring medical conditions associated with the initiation of medical cannabis treatment.”

Leafwell

“Understanding who medical cannabis patients are and the types of self-reported co-occurring conditions they report,” the study says, “will assist medical professionals in communicating with patients about using medical cannabis.”

Among other findings, the research indicated a roughly equal split of men (51.1 percent) and women (48.9 percent) among the cannabis patients.

More than 7 in 10 people (71.5 percent), meanwhile, identified as white and non-Hispanic. That group was followed by Black non-Hispanic patients (10.4 percent), Hispanic patients (8.4 percent) and patients of other races (7.1 percent).

Nearly two thirds of patients (65 percent) were between the ages of 21 and 49. Another quarter (25.4 percent) were 50 or older, while 8.3 percent were patients under 21. The average age across the study group was 40.

Authors noted that while their findings of pain, anxiety and PTSD as especially popular qualifying conditions align with other evidence about who uses medical marijuana and why, earlier research had shown multiple sclerosis and cancer diagnoses were more common. That suggests the reasons for using marijuana may have changed over time, authors wrote—which would align with the addition of further qualifying conditions to state medical cannabis programs.

“Understanding patients’ self-reported number of medical conditions holds value and aids in comprehending patients’ perceptions of their medical conditions as it relates to medical cannabis usage,” the report concludes. “Overall, this work contributes to our understanding who medical cannabis patients are and why they use medical cannabis, in the US.”

In its post about the findings, meanwhile, Leafwell highlighted some of what it said where the reports implications for healthcare and policy. Among them is the importance of treatments tailored to individual patients, the growing role of cannabis in managing mental health and the broader need for additional therapies for chronic pain.

“As cannabis continues to evolve as a treatment option, so will our understanding of its role in healthcare,” the company said. “With millions of Americans turning to cannabis for relief, it’s clear this plant is making a meaningful difference.”

A separate Leafwell report from September found that legalization of medical marijuana across the U.S. could save nearly $29 billion in healthcare costs.

That study, which looked at state-level healthcare savings in jurisdictions with medical marijuana, found that companies paid 3.4 percent less for health insurance premiums compared to where cannabis remained illegal—a savings of about $238 per employee per year.

“This report strengthens the case that investing in cannabis care isn’t just beneficial to patient care, it’s also good for business efficiency,” Leafwell Chief Medical Officer June Chin said in a statement at the time. “By including cannabis in insurance plans, employers can foster a more inclusive and supportive work environment, enhance employee satisfaction, and ultimately contribute to a healthier, more resilient workforce.”

A federal study published earlier this year, meanwhile, found that enrollment in state-legal medical marijuana programs increased significantly across the U.S. in recent years, climbing 610 percent since 2016 as more states have legalized and expanded lists of qualifying conditions. Between 2020 and 2022, the number of enrolled medical marijuana patients in the U.S. increased by a third (33.3 percent).

Those researchers—from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the University of Michigan—noted that the uptick comes amid “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.”

As for youth medical marijuana use, a separate study that reviewed patients in the U.S. who are under the age of 21 found recently that minors and young adults typically qualify for state cannabis programs for many of the same reasons that older adults do, including anxiety, PTSD and chronic pain.

Among minor patients—those under 18—cancer and epilepsy were more common reasons for obtaining a medical marijuana recommendation than they were among young adults, ages 18 to 20. Patients in the older age group, meanwhile, were comparatively more likely to cite depression, chronic pain or insomnia as their primary qualifying condition.

Federal agencies have taken a keener interest in studying trends in cannabis markets in recent years, as more U.S. jurisdictions have legalized medical and adult-use marijuana and as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) itself now weighs rescheduling.

A separate NIDA-funded study on youth cannabis use earlier this year, for instance, found no association between legal adult-use cannabis sales and the prevalence of consumption among middle-school students.

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