Here's an analysis on cost effectiveness of smoked cannabis to treat chronic neuropathic pain

A new study now finds that smoking cannabis as an adjunctive second-line therapy to treat chronic peripheral neuropathy can be both effective and cost-effective.

The results of the study are published in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

In the article entitled "A Cost-Effectiveness Model for Adjunctive Smoked Cannabis in the Treatment of Chronic Neuropathic Pain," David Grelotti and coauthors from UCSD, University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (San Diego), and Columbia University (New York, NY) created a computer simulation to compare the cost of usual first-, second-, and third-line care with those supplemented with smoked cannabis.

They modeled efficacy and adverse events based on clinical trial and other existing study data, and derived cannabis cost from retail market pricing.

Speaking about the study, Daniele Piomelli of University of California-Irvine, School of Medicine, said: "With the opioid crisis continuing unabated, it is essential to understand whether cannabis might offer a safe, effective, and economically sound approach to pain management. This article offers new data that will help evaluate this possibility.