People in Pain Are Willing to Pay More for Cannabis and Harder to Discourage from Using | Research

The takeaway

Greater pain intensity was associated with higher cannabis demand across multiple economic measures — people in pain wanted more cannabis, would pay more for it, and were harder to deter from using.

Pain management clinicians, substance use counselors, behavioral economists, and cannabis policy researchers

What the researchers found

Greater pain intensity predicted higher Omax (maximum spending), Pmax (maximum price), Intensity (consumption at zero cost), Breakpoint (price that stops use), and lower Elasticity (price sensitivity) for cannabis, with sex-moderated effects for women under responsibility conditions.

Why it matters

This provides economic evidence that pain drives cannabis demand beyond just frequency — people in pain are more motivated, willing to spend more, and less responsive to deterrents.

The numbers in context

172 regular users (41% women); pain intensity associated with all 5 demand indices; next-day responsibilities reduced demand but less so for women with pain; responsibility effect on elasticity moderated by sex and pain.

How the study worked

Secondary analysis of 172 regular cannabis users completing counterbalanced marijuana purchase tasks (with/without next-day responsibility) alongside Brief Pain Inventory pain intensity assessment.

What this study cannot tell us

Cross-sectional; crowdsourced sample; hypothetical purchase tasks; self-reported pain; cannot determine if cannabis use worsened or improved pain; no clinical pain diagnoses.

How to read the evidence

Well-designed behavioral economics study with validated measures, but cross-sectional and crowdsourced with hypothetical purchase tasks.

When this study was published

Published in 2026, providing economic evidence for the pain-cannabis demand relationship.

The bigger picture

If pain makes cannabis demand more persistent and less price-sensitive, then pain management is fundamentally a cannabis prevention strategy — inadequate pain treatment drives problematic use.

Questions still open

Would effective pain treatment reduce cannabis demand? Could pain-specific cannabis use counseling reduce harm while acknowledging the self-medication reality?

Common questions

Does pain make people use more cannabis?

This study found people with greater pain intensity showed higher cannabis demand on every economic measure — they wanted more, would pay more, and were less deterred by high prices or responsibilities.

Are men and women with pain different in cannabis demand?

Yes — women with pain showed an interesting pattern where next-day responsibilities actually made their cannabis demand more persistent (less elastic), potentially reflecting stronger self-medication motivation.

Read the original research

Clinical pain intensity is associated with greater cannabis demand among people who regularly use cannabis.

Pain reports, 11(1), e1385

View on PubMed ↗Publisher’s paper ↗

Citation

Bush, Nicholas J; Ferguson, Erin; Funez-Ponce, Marco; Yurasek, Ali; Boissoneault, Jeff. (2026). Clinical pain intensity is associated with greater cannabis demand among people who regularly use cannabis.. Pain reports, 11(1), e1385. https://doi.org/10.1097/PR9.0000000000001385