Dr. Oz Could Elevate Medical Marijuana Support As Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Director

President-elect Donald Trump’s recent selection of physician and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz to oversee the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services adds another pro-medical-marijuana voice to the forthcoming administration.

While federal prohibition means the move is unlikely to have any immediate impact on cannabis availability for patients covered by the health assistance programs, Oz could nevertheless push for broader acceptance of the substance from the office, especially if marijuana is moved to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.

In recent years, Dr. Oz has encouraged audiences to be open openness to therapeutic cannabis and advocated for sweeping policy changes around the drug.

“We ought to completely change our policy on marijuana. It absolutely works,” he said in a 2020 interview, calling cannabis “one of the most underused tools in America.”

In August of this year, he wrote in a syndicated health column that there’s evidence cannabinoids can curb seizures, alleviate nausea associated with cancer treatment and potentially help manage pain—especially in older people.

“If your physician recommends it to manage pain, especially if you’re 65 and older, give it a try,” Oz wrote with co-author Michael Roizen, a doctor focused on aging.

At the same time, they cautioned that medical marijuana is “an evolving field with limited research.”

I am honored to be nominated by @realDonaldTrump to lead CMS. I look forward to serving my country to Make America Healthy Again under the leadership of HHS Secretary @RobertKennedyJr. pic.twitter.com/aYIQJHG5Ej

— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) November 19, 2024

In his earlier 2020 comments, Oz claimed that he’d had conversations with officials at both the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who both told him the other agency was an obstacle to reform.

“I called the DEA,” he said. “They said, ‘We don’t want this to be illegal. Your government ought to change that. But we got to enforce the law.’ I call the FDA that regulates the drugs. They say, ‘We think it ought to be used, but until the DEA says it’s allowed, we can’t let people prescribe it everywhere.’”

Oz also said the time that he believes, particularly for seniors, that marijuana for pain represents a “safer solution than, for example, narcotics in many cases.”

“I’ve seen this helping people with sleep issues, with pain issues for sure, and a lot of people who have serious medical problems getting relief—and here’s the thing, you can’t die from it,” he said. “I’m unaware of any case when anyone has overdosed.”

In 2017, Oz tweeted that “medical marijuana could help patients, & even have a major impact on the opiate crisis.”

Medical marijuana could help patients, & even have a major impact on the opiate crisis. Be sure to join us tomorrow: https://t.co/NG5RW7Rryy

— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) September 21, 2017

Also that year, Oz led a petition calling on the National Institutes of Health to increase its support for marijuana research.

“Outdated beliefs and policies have prevented our country from funding medical cannabis research but the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has reviewed other scientific research and found evidence that patients treated with cannabis or cannabinoids were more likely to experience a significant reduction in pain symptoms,” he said at the time. “Yet the government still says cannabis has no proven medical value.”

“The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funds much of our nation’s medical research, allots only $111 million dollars to cannabis research. This sounds like a large number, but it represents a mere 0.3 percent of NIH’s total spending on research and is only 0.1 percent of the cost of the opioid epidemic. This is a drop in the bucket for something that experts believe could have the potential to help in our fight against the number one killer of adults under 50. Studies already suggest that states with medical cannabis laws have a 25 percent lower mean annual opioid overdose mortality rate compared with states without medical cannabis laws.”

Here are the facts you need to know about #MedicalMarijuana. Please share, and support our @change petition here: https://t.co/ASJWKcBOdwpic.twitter.com/wTyrBhvexR

— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) September 22, 2017

Despite his positive claims around medical marijuana in past years, Oz has generally opposed recreational use of marijuana. During his unsuccessful 2022 run for Senate against then-Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), Oz criticized his opponent for supporting marijuana legalization. Appearing on Fox News, he made dismissive comments about the “pot flag” that Fetterman hung on the balcony of his Capitol office as he pushed for legalization in the Keystone State.

In his August column, Oz made various claims about the dangers of recreational marijuana use, saying it “can have lots of negative repercussions and that especially concerns us for young folks, who, now that pot is de-criminalized, may think they need it to get through the day.”

He also peddled a dubious claim that smoking a cannabis joint “produces eight times as much lung- and brain-damaging particulate matter as one manufactured cigarette.” And he said “chronic use of cannabis is linked to respiratory issues and an increased risk for testicular cancer, anxiety and depression.”

“All of this means we need more standardized products and more studies of those products to determine risks and benefits,” Oz and Roizen said.

Oz nevertheless has been consistently supportive of medical marijuana as a promising alternative to traditional medications.

In 2017, he asserted that marijuana could represent a tool to combat the opioid epidemic and subsequently made other public comments about the plant’s therapeutic potential.

“I’m hoping the federal government at some point—someone’s going to say, ‘come on, this is a farce, open it up for the entire country,’” the doctor has said. “That way, the right people can begin to prescribe it.”

Currently, none of the federal health programs that Oz will oversee cover the use of medical marijuana. As a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report earlier this year explained, substances in Schedule I cannot lawfully be prescribed by doctors.

In order for that to change, the substance would need to be rescheduled, CRS said, and FDA would need to approve specific formulations for use.

“If marijuana were moved from Schedule I to Schedule III, it could in theory be dispensed and used by prescription for medical purposes,” CRS said in a subsequent analysis. “However, prescription drugs must be approved by FDA. Although FDA has approved some drugs derived from or related to cannabis, marijuana itself is not an FDA-approved drug.”

Several other people tapped by Trump to be top administration officials are broadly supportive of marijuana reform and could have more immediate effects on policy.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will have the chance to advance major drug policy reforms he’s championed such as promoting access to psychedelics therapy and reshaping federal marijuana laws.

Kennedy followed a dizzying path to the Trump administration, entering the 2024 presidential election as a Democratic candidate before switching to independent as he lagged in the polls and then eventually endorsing the GOP nominee. Along that path, he stood out in part for his drug policy platform, which involved legalizing and taxing certain psychedelics in addition to cannabis.

If confirmed by the Senate or otherwise elevated to health and human services secretary via a recess appointment, Kennedy will be in a unique position of influence to follow up on those goals, commanding control of the nation’s health apparatus that oversees FDA and other critical agencies.

Last month, Kennedy specifically criticized FDA over the agency’s “suppression of psychedelics” and a laundry list of other issues that he said amounted to a “war on public health” that would end under the Trump administration.

Kennedy has also been open about his own struggles with addiction during his youth and the lessons that he’s taken away from his decades in recovery. While he said he’s generally not one to recommend a drug to treat substance misuse, he’s seen in his own family how psychedelics can facilitate the type of psychological healing needed for long-term recovery.

“I would legalize psychedelic drugs—some form of legalization,” he said in June, adding that he didn’t necessarily envision a commercial market where anyone could visit a shop to buy the substances but that there should be regulated access.

“I don’t know about just buying them in stores. I have to look at all that,” he said. “But in one way or another, we need to make it easy for people to use them in ways that could benefit our children and could benefit everybody. I’ve seen it in my own family, the benefits of it.”

Meanwhile, many marijuana industry stakeholders are optimistic about Trump’s selection of Matt Gaetz, formerly a congressman for Florida, to be U.S. attorney general. Well before Gaetz was even considered a potential candidate, he’d already previewed his plans if he was chosen to lead the Department of Justice: “Go easy on marijuana.”

Gaetz, who resigned from his House after Trump tapped him for the nation’s top law enforcement position, was among the only GOP members of Congress who voted for a Democratic-led cannabis legalization bill. He did so twice, and he’s also backed other more modest reforms such as marijuana industry banking access.

For marijuana stakeholders, Trump’s choice of Gaetz is a welcome one in that it suggests state cannabis markets could continue to see a policy of non-interference from the federal government and that Biden administration’s plans to reschedule marijuana would proceed despite the White House changeup.

Gaetz also said last year that he’s concerned that if the federal government doesn’t “go further” than simply moving marijuana to a lower drug schedule, large pharmaceutical companies might be able to overtake the cannabis industry.

For now, Trump’s selections of top officials are tentative. They must still be confirmed by the Senate or otherwise ascend to the job via recess appointments. Among what are widely seen as unconventional picks, both Kennedy and Gaetz could both face pushback from congressional lawmakers on their way to the new posts.

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Medical Marijuana Leads To ‘Improvements In Physical, Social, Emotional And Pain-Related’ Quality Of Life, Study Shows

A new study finds that patients who used medical marijuana for three months improved on a variety of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures, including physical functioning, bodily pain, social functioning, fatigue and general health.

“Gains were observed in all HRQoL domains assessed after three months of medical marijuana use,” note authors from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Public Health Management Corporation, also in Philadelphia. In several measures, however—including physical functioning and pain—patients’ age played a significant role, “with older participants displaying less improvement than younger participants.”

The longitudinal study, published in the Journal of Cannabis Research last week, followed 438 new medical cannabis patients who completed “semi-structured interviews” both before they began using cannabis and again three months into use. Most participants were recommended marijuana to treat either anxiety disorders (61.9 percent) or pain (53.6 percent).

“New medical marijuana users experienced improvements across all domains of HRQoL over the first three months of medical marijuana use for any of the more than 20 qualifying medical conditions for use in” Pennsylvania, the authors wrote. “Notably, participants endorsed greater than 20 percent increases in ratings of their role limitations due to physical health problems and emotional problems, and in social functioning after three months of medical marijuana use.”

Researchers described the study as “one of the largest longitudinal studies of quality of life in individuals using medical marijuana in the US.”

“The use of medical marijuana for three months was associated with improvements in physical, social, emotional and pain-related HRQoL,” it says. “Ongoing surveillance of HRQoL in individuals with physical and mental health conditions can help to treat the ‘whole person’ and to capture any collateral impact of selected therapeutic approaches as treatment initiates and progresses. Results from this study can help patients, their caregivers, and their providers to make more informed and evidence-based decisions on whether to incorporate medical marijuana into their treatment regimens.”

Lead study author Michelle Lent said in a press release that her team’s research captured how patients’ “lives and health status changed after using these products. In the era of precision medicine, understanding which type of patient may benefit from which type of therapy is of high importance.”

The study provides “evidence to support greater access to, and coverage of, medical cannabis treatments,” she said.

The research was funded by Pennsylvania medical cannabis provider Organic Remedies, Inc., which the paper says played “no role in the study design, or in the analysis or interpretation of data.”

This just in! #PCOM Researchers published the results of one of the largest studies of health-related quality of life in individuals using #medicalmarijuana in the US. Funded by #OrganicRemediesPA as part of #ACRC in PA. https://t.co/v9Al2Aluf6#JournalofCannabisResearch

— Organic Remedies (@Or_Remedies) September 13, 2024

The study comes on the heels of a new scientific review of research on the impacts of marijuana on inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) that found that cannabinoid therapy helped reduce disease activity and improved quality of life in patients with the chronic diseases.

In March of this year, a separate study in the Journal of Health Research and Medical Science found that “cannabinoids show potential in improving disease activity” and quality of life in patients with ulcerative colitis.

Meanwhile, a study out of Australia last year found that patients with chronic health conditions saw significant improvements in overall quality of life and reductions in fatigue during the first three months of medical marijuana use.

“Patients experiencing anxiety, depression, or chronic pain also improved in those outcomes over 3 months,” that study found.

Findings of another study last year that examined marijuana’s neurocognitive effects “suggest that prescribed medical cannabis may have minimal acute impact on cognitive function among patients with chronic health conditions”—could be a relief to long-term cannabis patients who are concerned about potential neurological drawbacks of the drug.

Yet another study last year, published by the American Medical Association, found that the use of medical marijuana was associated with “significant improvements” in quality of life for people with chronic conditions like pain and insomnia—and those effects were “largely sustained” over time.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

Three Out Of Four Patients Say Medical Marijuana Reduces Their Use Of Opioids And Painkillers, Ohio Study Shows

A new study out of Ohio finds that a large majority of medical marijuana patients in the state say cannabis has reduced their use of prescription opioid painkillers as well as other, illicit drugs.

The survey of approximately 3,500 people—which was sent to state medical marijuana patients and caregivers through the Ohio Department of Commerce as well as shared online through social media—found that 77.5 percent agreed that marijuana reduced their need to use prescription painkillers. As for illicit drugs, 26.8 percent of respondents reported a diminished need to use.

Meanwhile, only small percentages of people disagreed that marijuana reduced their need to use prescription painkillers (1.7 percent) or illegal drugs (1.9 percent).

“Our results and those of previous studies display encouraging results about the potential benefits of using marijuana to reduce the use of painkillers and other illegal drugs,” says the new report, published as a preprint this month by Ohio State University law school’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center.

“A large majority of respondents agreed that using marijuana reduced their use of prescription painkillers.”

Notably, those who used cannabis daily “were more likely to agree that using marijuana reduced their need to use prescription painkillers compared to those who used marijuana less than daily (daily = 80.54%, not daily = 70.14%),” wrote author Pete Leasure, a senior research associate at the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center.

Similar results were found regarding other illegal drug use. About 30.6 percent of daily cannabis users said marijuana reduced their need to use illicit drugs compared to about 17.5 percent of less-than-daily users.

In the first report to come out of the annual survey by DEPC @OSU_Law of current and potential Ohio #medicalmarijuana patients, we found that a large majority agreed that using #marijuana reduced their use of prescription painkillers.

Read report: https://t.co/MaXtc9K3Rdpic.twitter.com/NmvbhWLleM

— Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at Ohio State (@OSULawDEPC) July 16, 2024

The study acknowledges that given the non-random sampling method used, the data “may not be representative of all marijuana users (medical or non-medical).” But it nevertheless considers the results to point toward certain policy changes aimed at reducing overall harm.

“Several policy implications should be mentioned in light of these findings,” the report says. “First, if Ohio probation and parole offices include a prohibition of marijuana use for individuals with a history of opioid use, those offices may want to consider weighing the costs and benefits of removing those prohibitions (and thus any potential technical violations).”

“For evidence-based support, researchers could encourage probation and parole offices to assist with randomized controlled trials where some individuals are assigned to a marijuana prohibition and others are not assigned a marijuana prohibition,” the study suggests. “The success of either assignment could be judged by examining outcomes such as other drug use, technical violations, and or new crime commission.”

The report also notes some research showing that marijuana is associated with some negative health impacts.

“Therefore, even if more rigorous studies show that marijuana use reduces the use of prescription painkillers and other illegal drugs, more research will be needed to determine the efficacy of marijuana versus other treatments,” it says.

Moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act, Leasure notes, would make robust research “easier to conduct” and help reduce obstacles to conducting experimental trials.

The findings further the idea of a substitution effect whereby patients opt for cannabis instead of opioids or other drugs to treat pain, though nuances of the effect are still poorly understood.

Separate research published earlier this year that looked at opioid prescription and mortality rates in Oregon, for instance, found that nearby access to retail marijuana moderately reduced opioid prescriptions, though there was no corresponding drop in opioid-related deaths.

“We cannot know for sure why we see a reduction in prescription opioid use and not a mortality effect given our data constraints,” authors of that study told Marijuana Moment in an email about the report, “but a potential explanation could be that either the substitution effect is not large enough, or possibly, those who are most likely to succumb to opioid misuse are not making this particular substitution.”

Another report published recently in the journal BMJ Open compared medical marijuana and opioids for chronic non-cancer pain and found that cannabis “may be similarly effective and result in fewer discontinuations than opioids,” potentially offering comparable relief with a lower likelihood of adverse effects.

And federally funded study published in May concluded that even some cannabis terpenes may have pain-relieving effects. That research found that an injected dose of the compounds produced a “roughly equal” reduction in pain markers in mice when compared to a smaller dose of morphine. Terpenes also appeared to enhance the efficacy of morphine in mice when the two drugs were given in combination.

Another study, published late last year, found that marijuana and opioids were “equally efficacious” at mitigating pain intensity, but cannabis also provided more “holistic” relief, such as by improving sleep, focus and emotional wellbeing.

The same month, research published in the Journal of Dental Research found that pure CBD could alleviate acute dental pain about as well as an opioid formula commonly used in dentistry.

A study published last summer linked medical marijuana use to lower pain levels and reduced dependence on opioids and other prescription medications. Another, published by the American Medical Association (AMA) in February, found that chronic pain patients who received medical marijuana for longer than a month saw significant reductions in prescribed opioids.

About one in three chronic pain patients reported using cannabis as a treatment option, according to another AMA-published report last year. Most of that group said they used cannabis as a substitute for other pain medications, including opioids.

Other research published last year found that letting people buy CBD legally significantly reduced opioid prescription rates, leading to 6.6 percent to 8.1 percent fewer opioid prescriptions.

A 2022 research paper that analyzed Medicaid data on prescription drugs, meanwhile, found that legalizing marijuana for adult use was associated with “significant reductions” in the use of prescription drugs for the treatment of multiple conditions.

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