Medical Cannabis can Help in Fighting Opioid Epidemic, Researchers Conclude

April 04, 2018

It is now becoming a well-known fact that states with successful MMJ programs are less affected by the nationwide opioid epidemic. The reason being medical cannabis itself is an effective painkiller and a fine alternative of opioid. These facts are now also being substantiated by different research studies. According to some recent findings, medical cannabis is not only helpful in treating the addiction of opioid, but it can also help in the prevention of opioid crisis by limiting its prescriptions.

Medical Cannabis Lowers the Use of Opioid in Medicaid Patients

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which studied the use of opioid in Medicaid cardholders in states with and without MMJ programs. Researchers looked at the data from 2011 to 2016. They found out that opioid prescription rates were six percent lower in the states where medical cannabis was allowed to administer for pain relief and management as compared to non-MMJ states. Moreover, states with legalized adult-use cannabis experienced more decrement in opioid prescriptions.

Hefei Wen, one of the co-researcher on the study from the University of Kentucky, says the report concludes that laws are restricting people to treat their chronic and intractable pain through harmless medical cannabis and hence they have to resort to opioid. The study also signifies how legalization of adult-use marijuana might help in fighting opioid crisis.

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Medical Cannabis, Seniors and Patients With Disabilities

Another research has studied the effects of medical cannabis for Medicare patients and its link with opioid prescriptions. Findings of this study also validate that medical cannabis is the most potent substitute of opioid.

Data from 2011 to 2015 show that daily opioid dosage was reduced by 14 percent among Medicare patients in the states where medical cannabis was legal.

The study also compared the prescription rate of opioid in the states with medical dispensaries and where only domestically cultivated cannabis was allowed. Prescription rates of opioid in the states with legalized domestic cultivation were still lesser than the territories where medical cannabis was completely prohibited.

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Both research studies have put an end to the claims that cannabis also plays a part in opioid addiction. Many legislators and even the country’s attorney general are constantly feeding this lie to the masses.

These studies infer that medical cannabis can help in decreasing opioid prescriptions, which is one of the leading causes of opioid substance abuse. Experts think these findings will help movements of MMJ legalization in different states.

However, some health experts don’t consider these studies conclusive since they only analyzed the data of Medicaid and Medicare patients. Moreover, these findings only tell that fewer opioid prescriptions were written and don’t provide actual data on the consumption of opioid.

Nevertheless, these two studies have made a case for medical cannabis as an alternative painkiller for opioid users. Some studies have also found also a link between cannabis legalization and decreased mortality rate due to opioid abuse.

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