The legalization of medical marijuana “was associated with a lower rate of opioid dispensing and pain-related hospital events” among some new cancer patients, finds a new study published in the journal JAMA Oncology.

According to researchers from Cornell University the objective of the study was to “assess the associations between medical marijuana legalization and opioid-related and pain-related outcomes for adult patients receiving cancer treatment.” The full text of the study can be found by clicking here.

The analysis included 38,189 patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer, 12, 816 with colorectal cancer, and 7,190 with lung cancer. Data was examined from 34 states before and after medical marijuana legalization

Researchers found that medical marijuana legalization was associated with a reduction in the rate of 1 or more opioid days from 90.1% to 84.4% among patients with breast cancer with recent opioids, from 89.4% to 84.4% among patients with colorectal cancer with recent opioids, and from 33.8% to 27.2% among patients with lung cancer without recent opioids.

Researchers also found that “Medical marijuana legalization was associated with a reduction in the rate of 1 or more pain-related hospital events from 19.3% to 13.0% (difference, 6.3 [95% CI, 0.7-12.0] percentage points; P = .03) among patients with lung cancer with recent opioids.”

“Findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that medical marijuana legalization implemented from 2012 to 2017 was associated with a lower rate of opioid dispensing and pain-related hospital events among some adults receiving treatment for newly diagnosed cancer”, concludes the study. “The nature of these associations and their implications for patient safety and quality of life need to be further investigated.”