Chronic Pain and Substance Use Disorder Diagnosis History; Current Cigarette Smoking Status and Vaping of Tobacco/Nicotine; and Mode, Frequency, and Helpfulness of Cannabis Use in Survey Participants Who Used Cannabis for Pain and Who Used Cannabis for Other Reasons in the Past 30 Days
| Used cannabis for pain (n = 375) | Used cannabis for other reasons* (n = 558) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | P value | |
| Chronic pain diagnosis in past 2 years | 206 (54.9) | 122 (21.9) | <0.001 |
| Limb/joint | 127 (33.9) | 71 (12.7) | <0.001 |
| Back | 93 (24.8) | 47 (8.4) | <0.001 |
| Neck | 45 (12.0) | 30 (5.4) | <0.001 |
| Abdominal and bowel | 38 (10.1) | 17 (3.0) | <0.001 |
| Fracture/contusion/sprain | 28 (7.5) | 14 (2.5) | <0.001 |
| Neuropathy | 18 (4.8) | 4 (0.7) | <.001** |
| Muscle/chest | 15 (4.0) | 5 (0.9) | 0.001 |
| Headache | 14 (3.7) | 10 (1.8) | 0.066 |
| Other chronic pain diagnosis† | 84 (22.4) | 35 (6.3) | <0.001 |
| Any substance use disorder diagnosis in past 2 years | 95 (25.3) | 90 (16.1) | 0.001 |
| Tobacco use disorder | 60 (16.0) | 60 (10.8) | 0.019 |
| Alcohol use disorder | 19 (5.1) | 17 (3.0) | 0.335 |
| Cannabis use disorder | 19 (5.1) | 21 (3.8) | 0.116 |
| Opioid use disorder | 10 (2.7) | 6 (1.1) | 0.066 |
| Other drug use disorder‡ | 2 (0.5) | 9 (1.6) | .215** |
| Current cigarette smoking status§ | |||
| Every day | 54 (14.6) | 40 (7.2) | 0.001 |
| Some days | 17 (4.6) | 28 (5.0) | |
| Not at all/never | 300 (80.9) | 488 (87.8) | |
| Current vaping of tobacco/nicotine§ | |||
| Every day | 20 (5.3) | 29 (5.2) | 0.996 |
| Some days | 18 (4.8) | 27 (4.9) | |
| Not at all/never | 337 (89.9) | 500 (89.9) | |
| All modes of cannabis use endorsed‖ | |||
| Smoke | 249 (66.4) | 422 (75.6) | 0.002 |
| Apply | 190 (50.7) | 59 (10.6) | <0.001 |
| Eat | 164 (43.7) | 244 (43.7) | 0.999 |
| Vape | 160 (42.7) | 254 (45.5) | 0.390 |
| Drink | 72 (19.2) | 65 (11.6) | 0.001 |
| Dab | 63 (16.8) | 81 (14.5) | 0.344 |
| Other | 26 (6.9) | 13 (2.3) | 0.001 |
| Primary mode of cannabis use endorsed§ | |||
| Smoke | 164 (44.2) | 284 (51.5) | <0.001 |
| Apply | 55 (14.8) | 3 (0.5) | |
| Eat | 48 (12.9) | 70 (12.7) | |
| Vape | 57 (15.4) | 139 (25.2) | |
| Drink | 18 (4.9) | 14 (2.5) | |
| Dab | 20 (5.4) | 33 (6.0) | |
| Other | 9 (2.4) | 9 (1.6) | |
| Typical times per day of cannabis use, considering all modes of use§ | |||
| <1 | 7 (1.9) | 14 (2.5) | <0.001 |
| 1 to 2 | 188 (50.7) | 355 (64.3) | |
| 3 to 4 | 103 (27.8) | 115 (20.8) | |
| 5 to 9 | 53 (14.3) | 47 (8.5) | |
| 10+ | 20 (5.4) | 21 (3.8) | |
| Typical days per week of cannabis use, considering all modes of use§ | |||
| <1 | 17 (4.5) | 45 (8.1) | <0.001 |
| 1 to 3 | 52 (13.9) | 122 (21.1) | |
| 4 to 7 | 305 (81.6) | 384 (69.7) | |
| Medical use in the past 30 days§,¶ | |||
| Both medical and non-medical | 226 (60.4) | 180 (32.5) | <0.001 |
| Medical | 130 (34.8) | 48 (8.7) | |
| Non-medical | 18 (4.8) | 325 (58.8) | |
| Perceived helpfulness of cannabis use among those who provided a reason for use§,# | |||
| Very/extremely | 302 (80.5) | 338 (72.7) | 0.010** |
| Slightly/somewhat | 73 (19.5) | 125 (26.9) | |
| Not at all | 0 (0.0) | 2 (0.4) |
↵*Other than pain, reasons for cannabis use assessed include muscle spasm, seizures, nausea or vomiting, sleep, stress, appetite, worry or anxiety, depression or sadness, focus or concentration, other symptoms, none.
↵†Includes acquired deformities (excluding back conditions), arthritic pain, bone infections, cancer-related pain, fibromyalgia, general pain, infectious diseases, orofacial/temporomandibular joint pain, post-operative pain, post-trauma pain, restless legs syndrome, spinal cord injury, systemic disorders, urogenital/pelvic pain, and other painful conditions.
↵‡Includes stimulant, hallucinogen, and other drug use disorders.
↵§Column sums for this variable may not total 375 for Used cannabis for pain or 558 for used cannabis for other reasons due to missing responses (item-level non-response rate across participants ≤1%).
↵‖Responses not mutually exclusive.
↵¶Response to question “When you used marijuana/cannabis during the past 30 days, was it: 1. For medical reasons, 2. For non-medical reasons, 3. For both medical and non-medical reasons.”
↵#Eighty-five participants in the used cannabis for other reasons group reported no reasons for cannabis use and therefore were not asked about the perceived helpfulness of cannabis.
↵**P value obtained using Fisher’s exact test.