Looking beyond traditional pain outcomes to better evaluate cannabis's true potential and limitations in chronic pain management.

Cannabis is increasingly used for managing chronic pain, despite the low quality and inconsistency of most evidence from randomized controlled trials and the divergent expert opinions and guidelines issued by academic societies. In this perspective piece, we suggest a way forward. The clinical trials have focused on traditional chronic pain outcomes (such as pain severity and interference, as well as physical and emotional functioning). However, qualitative studies suggest that many individuals perceive cannabis as beneficial not because it directly reduces pain but because it alters their psychological responses to it and improves other important outcomes, such as role and social functioning, sleep quality, and opioid substitution, which are largely overlooked in clinical trials of cannabis for chronic pain. We contend that the true clinical potential and limitations of cannabis for pain management may be fundamentally misunderstood if research continues to prioritize conventional chronic pain outcomes alone. We call for the integration of perspectives from people with lived experience in identifying meaningful clinical outcomes for future clinical trials on cannabis and chronic pain. Such a shift would clarify cannabis's true benefits and limitations, ultimately guiding more nuanced, evidence-based, and personalized treatment approaches for chronic pain. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).