States with medical marijuana laws saw 20 percent drop in some opioid prescriptions
States with active medical marijuana laws saw certain opioid prescription rates drop nearly 20 percent compared to states without medical marijuana programs, according to a first-of-its-kind study out of Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center.
Authors said the findings underscore the importance of providing patients with pain management alternatives, such as cannabis, in efforts to reduce opioid use.
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Cannabis and autism, explained
Over the past decade, autistic people and their families have increasingly experimented with medical marijuana and products derived from it. Many hope these compounds will alleviate a range of autism-related traits and problems. But scientists are still in the early stages of rigorous research into marijuana’s safety and effectiveness, which means that people who pursue…
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Medical marijuana advocates concerned over recreational cannabis proposals
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Some medical marijuana patients are concerned the proposed framework for legalizing recreational marijuana could have a potentially negative impact on the medical cannabis program. “It’s something that will devastate the medical program in doing so,” said Jason Barker, a medical cannabis advocate with Safe Access New Mexico. A special task force delivered a…
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PTSD: Is There Any Relief?
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Medical marijuana helped elderly with chronic pain and reduced their use of opioids, study found
Your grandparents’ chronic aches and pains might best be eased with a little weed, a new study suggests. Not only did folks over 75 who took medical marijuana report less pain, their use of pot-based capsules, tinctures and e-cigarettes allowed a third of these patients to reduce their use of opioid painkillers, researchers found. “Medical marijuana, in…
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Are You Prepared For Questions About Medical Cannabis?
With over 85% of Americans supporting legalizing medical cannabis, it’s inevitable that patients will begin asking their primary care doctors about its use and overall efficacy. Doctors and other medical professionals will be called upon to be ‘sense-makers’ for a treatment they never studied in medical school and have limited available research to draw upon. …
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Illinois dispensary to allow patients to substitute medical marijuana for opioids prescription
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. (KMOV.com) — Thursday, Illinois will become the first state to launch a revised medical marijuana program. The program allows pain suffers who use opioids to temporarily switch to medical marijuana. Following months of planning, the new initiative will launch at the HCI Alternatives medical cannabis dispensary in Springfield, Illinois. In a press release,…
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