B.C. patients with opioid use disorder who tested positive for THC had reduced fentanyl exposure risk

Because there is limited data on how cannabis may affect illicit opioid consumption, particularly fentanyl, researchers sought to better understand the relationship between cannabis use and recent fentanyl exposure. Study participants were marginalized residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, an area that has long witnessed the overdose epidemic. A study out of B.C. involving people undergoing opioid agonist therapy (OAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) found that cannabis use was associated with lower exposures to potentially deadly fentanyl. Fentanyl was not as prevalent for those people who tested positive for THC. “Overall study interviews, cannabis use was independently associated with reduced likelihood of being recently exposed to fentanyl,” states the abstract. At the initial interview, fentanyl was detected in the tests of slightly more than half, 53 per cent, of participants.