How People in Opioid Recovery Use Cannabis: Insights from Reddit Forums | Research

The takeaway

People in opioid recovery discussed cannabis primarily for managing withdrawal symptoms, while active opioid users discussed it for enhancing the opioid high, revealing two distinct use patterns.

Addiction medicine providers, harm reduction workers, people in opioid recovery

Cannabis posts 2x more prevalent in recovery vs active use forums

What the researchers found

Cannabis-related posts were twice as prevalent in the recovery subreddit (5.4%) as in the active opioid use subreddit (2.6%). Recovery forum users primarily discussed cannabis for managing withdrawal symptoms alongside "comfort meds." Active opioid users primarily discussed cannabis to enhance the opioid high.

Why it matters

Understanding how people actually use cannabis in relation to opioids reveals two distinct motivations that have very different clinical implications for harm reduction and treatment.

The numbers in context

Recovery subreddit: 908 cannabis posts (5.4% of 16,791); opioid subreddit: 4,224 cannabis posts (2.6% of 159,994); 200 posts qualitatively analyzed

How the study worked

Text analysis of cannabis-related posts from two Reddit communities (opioid use and opioid recovery) from December 2015 to August 2019, using TF-IDF weighting for frequent phrases and qualitative content analysis of 200 random posts.

What this study cannot tell us

Pseudonymous online posts cannot be verified. Reddit users may not represent the broader opioid-using or recovering population. Self-reported motivations may not reflect actual effects.

How to read the evidence

Qualitative analysis of pseudonymous online posts. Provides naturalistic insights but cannot establish efficacy or generalize broadly.

When this study was published

Published in 2022

The bigger picture

The self-reported use of cannabis for opioid withdrawal management adds to growing naturalistic evidence that some people find cannabis helpful during recovery, though this contrasts with its use as an enhancer among active users.

Questions still open

Does cannabis actually reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms, or does it primarily provide subjective comfort? Would structured cannabis-assisted opioid withdrawal protocols improve recovery outcomes?

Common questions

Do people in opioid recovery use cannabis?

This study found cannabis was discussed twice as often in opioid recovery forums as active use forums. In recovery, cannabis was primarily used for managing withdrawal symptoms alongside other comfort medications.

Why do active opioid users and recovering users use cannabis differently?

The study found two distinct patterns: people in recovery used cannabis to manage withdrawal symptoms (nausea, anxiety, sleep), while active opioid users used cannabis primarily to enhance the opioid high.

Read the original research

"I got a bunch of weed to help me through the withdrawals": Naturalistic cannabis use reported in online opioid and opioid recovery community discussion forums.

PloS one, 17(2), e0263583

View on PubMed ↗Publisher’s paper ↗

Citation

Meacham, Meredith C; Nobles, Alicia L; Tompkins, D Andrew; Thrul, Johannes. (2022). "I got a bunch of weed to help me through the withdrawals": Naturalistic cannabis use reported in online opioid and opioid recovery community discussion forums.. PloS one, 17(2), e0263583. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263583