- Posted August 25, 2025
Most Pain Patients Quit Medical Weed Within A Year, Study Says
More than half of people prescribed medical weed for chronic muscle or joint pain quit using it within a year, a new small-scale study says.
About 58% of a group of 78 Pennsylvania patients certified for medical cannabis decided to discontinue treatment within a year, researchers report in the journal PLOS One.
In fact, nearly half (45%) stop using weed within the first three months of trying it, results show.
These high drop-off rates indicate that “despite growing enthusiasm and widespread adoption, medical cannabis does not meet expectations for a significant subset of chronic pain patients,” researcher Dr. Asif Ilyas, a professor of orthopedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, said in a news release.
For the study, researchers tracked the 78 pain patients for two years to see how they fared using medical marijuana. The patients all were treated at the Rothman Orthopedic Institute in Philadelphia between October 2022 and December 2024.
Results showed that people who quit using weed for their pain were about as healthy as those who remained on the treatment.
Likewise, where a person was feeling their pain — in the low back, neck, joints, muscles or elsewhere — was not associated with the odds they’d stop using weed, researchers said.
Instead, a complex mix of reasons is likely behind why people gave up on medical weed, researchers said.
Some might become dissatisfied with the treatment, while others might not like the side effects, researchers said. Others might decide to pursue more time-tested treatments like injections or surgery.
“These results are consistent with previous studies, which have shown mixed responses to medical cannabis treatment in chronic pain patients,” the researchers wrote. “While some patients report significant relief, others may not find sufficient therapeutic benefit, leading to early discontinuation.”
There was one major difference between those who kept on medical weed and those who dropped it — the patient’s age. Those who stopped using weed were seven years older, with an average age of 72 compared with 65 for those who stayed with it.
“Older adults may be more cautious in using alternative therapies like medical cannabis due to concerns about long-term effects or a preference for more conventional treatments,” researchers wrote.
Researchers point out that they did not gather specific details about the type of cannabis products that patients used, nor did the study collect data on improvements in function and pain.
“These findings suggest that while medical cannabis may offer benefits for some patients, further research is needed to better understand the long-term effects of medical cannabis on pain management and patient satisfaction, as well as the factors influencing treatment adherence,” the researchers wrote.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on cannabis and chronic pain.
SOURCES: Rothman Orthopedic Institute Foundation for Opioid Research and Education, news release, Aug. 19, 2025, PLOS One, Aug. 7, 2025
