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.
Stories you may be interested in
$2.7 million awarded for medical marijuana research in Colorado
The state has awarded $2.7 million for research into how medical marijuana could replace opioids to ease chronic spinal pain — and how it might treat irritability in children and adolescents with autism. Read the full story here.
Read More New Feature: Calendar Integration
At Arfinn Med, we’re excited to announce the third feature update to join automated text messaging and note templating: calendar integration. With this addition, physicians can now integrate their Google Calendar or Calendy account. The implementation of calendar integration rounds out the Arfinn Med portal, making it a physician’s one-stop-shop EMR tool. How It Works…
Read More Arfinn Med March Updates
We are very happy to announce the release of several new functions within the Arfinn Med Platform. Those include: * Text message updates from patients regarding their treatments * Templating for exam notes * Updated analytics and dosing reports * Google calendar and Calendly integrations to schedule appointments. Please view the video below for more…
Read More Senate bill could legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — Medical marijuana is legal in 36 states. Now, the state General Assembly could make North Carolina the latest state to open up the market to cannabis. Medical cannabis advocates are trying to throw veterans a lifeline with Senate Bill 711. “The veteran suicide rate is twice the national average in North Carolina,…
Read More Unstructured EHR data more useful for predictive analytics, study shows
A new report in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association has shown that real-world data contained in unstructured narratives has big predictive value when it comes to clinical research. WHY IT MATTERSWhile structured clinical notes in the electronic health record have obvious value, the research in JAMIA suggests that real-world data captured in unstructured notes…
Read More Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids
The plant Cannabis sativa produces more than 400 chemicals, but only one, THC, gets you high. Or so it seems. A group of Italian researchers announced on December 30th the discovery of two new cannabinoids, chemicals produced by weed like THC and CBD. The first, tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP), is allegedly 30 times more potent than THC, they claim.…
Read More