Biotechs May Be Overlooking Developing Marijuana Treatments

With marijuana finally legalized in many places and a significant increase in people supporting it for medical use, it is still unfortunately not FDA approved, just yet. A survey that collected information on what participants are using marijuana for showed that there can be an undeveloped market that can potentially be pursued by biotechs.

Eighty percent of participants from ages 50 to 80 supported marijuana use with a physician's consent, according to the survey results. The survey was conducted in states where marijuana isn't legal yet. This shows that public opinion especially in older adults is growing in favor towards marijuana.

Another survey conducted by BD Analytics found 41 percent of adults over the age of 50 are thinking of trying marijuana and 12 percent have used it in the last six months. The most compelling result of this survey was when participants were asked their purpose to use marijuana. Only 6 percent stated their purpose was to get stoned, the highest percentage was attributed to pain relief.

Pain relief isn't the only benefit of marijuana. A study performed by the University of Michigan found that chronic pain patients reduced opioid use by 64 percent when they started using medical marijuana. They also experienced an improved quality of life by 45 percent.

Chronic pain has been commonly treated with opioid prescriptions for a very long time, which has resulted in an epidemic. So now may be a better time than never for biotechs to start developing effective marijuana treatments for pain relief.