F. Leland McClure, PhDPeople who use marijuana recreationally are more likely to misuse other drugs, including pain-controlling, but potentially addictive narcotics, sedatives, and other prescription medications, than individuals who do not use marijuana, according to a new national study issued by Quest Diagnostics, Madison, NJ.
The study also found that while marijuana was the most frequently abused drug of patients tested, people who used prescribed marijuana (prescription cannabinoids) were not more likely to misuse other drugs than nonmarijuana users.
“This study provides important evidence that people who use marijuana have greater risk of other forms of drug misuse,” says Christian Thurstone, MD, assistant professor, psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine and medical director of Denver Health, an adolescent substance abuse program in Denver. “Future research is needed to determine the exact nature of this relationship and to inform substance prevention efforts,”
| The Quest Diagnostics Health Trends™ report, A Report on Marijuana and Prescription Drug Misuse in America, is believed to be one of the largest studies of the correlation between marijuana and prescription drug use in a nationally representative population based on objective laboratory data. |
The new Quest Diagnostics Health Trends study is based on an analysis of 227,402 de-identified urine lab-test results of patients, age 10 years and older, of both genders in 49 states and the District of Columbia performed by the company’s clinical labs in 2011 and 2012 in connection with the company’s prescription drug monitoring services.
These services aid clinicians in monitoring patients for appropriate use of up to 26 commonly abused prescription medications, such as opioids and sedatives, and illicit drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine.
The key findings for marijuana use:
- Marijuana was the most frequently detected nonprescribed drug, found in more than one in four (26%) of patients with inconsistent test results. An inconsistent result is one that indicates a patient did not use medications as prescribed, such as by combining them with other prescription or illicit drugs. These findings confirm other research on the prevalence of marijuana use, including a March 2013 Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index™ report that found marijuana was the most frequently detected drug among the nation’s workforce.
- Nearly half (45%) of patients who used marijuana recreationally also used other nonprescribed drugs — most commonly sedatives and narcotic pain killers – compared to approximately one-third (36%) of nonmarijuana users. These findings suggest recreational marijuana users are 1.3 times more likely than nonmarijuana users to use or combine potentially dangerous and addictive prescription and illicit drugs without a legitimate prescription or a clinician’s oversight.
- Thirty-seven percent of medical marijuana users (those taking prescribed cannabinoids as pharmaceutical preparations) misused other drugs. Although this data shows a significant percentage of patients prescribed cannabinoids also misused other drugs, it does not indicate they were less responsible than other patient populations.
- Recreational marijuana users were only slightly more likely than nonusers not to use their prescription drugs. A patient may not take a prescribed drug due to financial constraints and diversion, including illegal drug sales.
| The drug marijuana, derived from the leaves, stems, and other parts of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, contains delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a psychoactive chemical which affects areas of the brain associated with pleasure, memory, thinking, and coordinated movement. Although federal law prohibits marijuana possession, distribution, or use, 18 states and the District of Columbia now permit marijuana use for medicinal purposes, and Colorado and Washington permit recreational use of marijuana among adults. |
“Our data raises the possibility that people who use marijuana recreationally are more likely to misuse their prescribed medications and other drugs,” says F. Leland McClure, PhD, director, pain management, mass spectrometry operations, Quest Diagnostics. “This is disturbing in light of the prevalence of marijuana use and the epidemic of drug addiction and death due to prescription medication abuse in the United States.”
“We also found that patients taking prescription cannabinoids did not combine other drugs at a significantly higher rate than other patients,” McClure says. “While additional research is needed to confirm the findings, patients using prescribed cannabinoids may do so largely for legitimate medical reasons and not to engage in the type of abusive drug behavior for which this patient population is sometimes accused.”
[Source: Quest Diagnostics]
