Most Americans think marijuana is beneficial. But science says not so fast

By Payton Guion

As marijuana becomes more accepted across the country, a new study has found that Americans' perception of marijuana outpaces the science on the subject.

More than three out of four Americans, 81 percent, believe that marijuana has at least one benefit, while only 17 percent of U.S. adults think it has no benefit whatsoever, according to a study published earlier this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Most adults believe in the benefits of marijuana, despite what the study calls "insufficient" studies and data related to the specific and long-term health benefits of the substance.

The study found that 65.7 percent of U.S. adults think marijuana helps with pain management, despite a lack of clear supporting evidence.

"Several recent systematic reviews found insufficient evidence to support the use of cannabinoids for treating musculoskeletal pain and low-strength evidence that marijuana use is effective in managing neuropathic pain," the study's authors wrote. Cannabinoids are the chemical compounds found in marijuana.

This is not the first recent study to raise questions over whether marijuana is effective at treating pain.

The Lancet, a prominent medical journal, recently published one of the largest and longest studies ever undertaken on medical marijuana. It tracked some 1,500 participants over four years and found that patients who used cannabis reported more severe pain than people who did not.

These studies come as New Jersey is in the midst of a massive medical marijuana expansion, largely on the back of the state adding chronic pain as a condition accepted by the program. New Jersey has added 10,000 patients to the medical marijuana program since Gov. Phil Murphy took office. More than 4,000 of those patients have some form of chronic pain.


"We should be cautious that we don't offer patients false hope," state Sen. Joseph Vitale, the prime sponsor of a bill aimed at broadly expanding access to medical cannabis, told NJ Cannabis Insider. "Cannabis isn't a magic elixir. We obviously need more studies like this."

While Americans do largely believe that marijuana has some benefits, they also are aware of its risks.

The study published this week found that 91 percent of U.S. adults believe marijuana has at least one risk. The two most common risks cited were legal problems -- 51.8 percent recognized this as a risk -- while 50 percent said they saw addiction to marijuana as a risk.

A risk that isn't widely understood by researchers is the long-term health consequences of marijuana use.

"Data are insufficient regarding how daily marijuana use might affect long-term physical health, including the effects of frequent of heavy use on cardiovascular outcomes, obstructive lung disease, pulmonary function and cancer," authors wrote.

The study was conducted between Sept. 27 and Oct. 9, 2017, and used an online survey of a randomly selected, representative sample of 9,003 adults across the country.