MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE CAUSING A DECREASE IN OPIOID NARCOTIC DEATHS?

Opioid Abuse Rates Lower In States With Legal Weed

The issue of whether to legalize marijuana or not has elicited a heated debate in the United States over the years. However, a new study has shown that the rates of opioid abuse in the in states where medical cannabis is lawful are significantly lower. The report that looked at the data gathered from 2011 to 2015 from the pharmaceutical and medical industries was published by Castlight Health. After combining all the statistics and analyzing the numbers, the report endeavored to understand how the abuse rates are becoming in the nation.

Opioids are a type of strong painkillers that include substances such as morphine, oxycodone, and codeine. These are highly addictive drugs. The painkillers can lead to overdoses and addictions to other drugs such as heroine in some cases. Nevertheless, they are some of the medicines prescribed frequently in the United States.

There is clearly an alarming rate in regard to the personal toll that opiod use has had on the users, friends and families. However, the report paints one bright smarijuana. Research has shown that states that have legalized the use of cannabis tend to have lower opiod use. For instance, places where medical marijuana is legal have 5.4% of people abusing the drug. This is in comparison to places marijuana has been legalized where only 2.8% abuse the drug. These findings paint the same picture with those found in a 2015 study. This was a report compile by the National Bureau of Economic Research. It therefore clearly gave a picture of a situation where legalization of marijuana could do more good than harm.

Furthermore, based on this study, it was discovered that states that permit dispensaries to deal with medical marijuana tend to experience a considerable decrease in both opioid deaths and opioid addictions in comparison to states that do not permit the same. Based on our findings, providing and environment where there is a broader access to medical marijuana as narcotics medications reduces cases of people using highly addictive painkillers. In their bid to seek ways to address the issue of opioids addiction problems in the U.S there is a likelihood that cannabis may just provide a possible solution. Most of impact is due to indica medical marijuana strains that contain CBDs cannabidiols compounds.

There have been arguments that using cannabis could help provide a more natural and safer way to treat pain as well as many other health complications that are yet to get a natural remedy. However, there seem to be a hurdle to the rigidity of the federal government that is yet to embrace this approach and therefore still classify cannabis to be a schedule I illegal substance. This is a category that is considered not to have any health benefits apart from being the most dangerous of drugs.

There have been efforts by the critics of the federal governments’ stand on use of cannabis by pointing out to the studies like these as evidence to show that there ought to be a paradigm shift in the way the government looks at the plant and reschedule it to make it more available. Based on a memo written by the DEA earlier this month, the agency may decide whether it will put into consideration to reschedule cannabis before summer ends. You can explore how to qualify for a California medical marijuana card here.