Skip to content

LEGALIZING CANNABIS LINKED TO LESS OPIOID PRESCRIPTIONS, COULD HELP COMBAT EPIDEMIC, SCIENTISTS SAY

December 18, 2019 / Arfinn Med MD /

LEGALIZING CANNABIS LINKED TO LESS OPIOID PRESCRIPTIONS, COULD HELP COMBAT EPIDEMIC, SCIENTISTS SAY

There are less opioid prescriptions on average in U.S. states where medical and recreational marijuana are legal, research has revealed.

Access to recreational cannabis in the U.S. was tied with a 11.8 percent lower rate of opioids prescriptions each day, and 4.2 percent for medical marijuana. The authors of the paper published in the Journal of Health Economics said recreational weed laws could make it easier for patients to access the drug, and use it to treat pain and other conditions.

Both types of law also appeared to cut down the total number of patients receiving opioids, as well as the total days opioids were supplied, and the likelihood of a healthcare provider prescribing the painkillers. The study also showed family physicians gave out more opioids than any other healthcare speciality, such as dentists or nurses.

Read Full Article Here

Stories you may be interested in

An Alternative Treatment for Parkinson’s Patients

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month and an opportune time to highlight the disease and how medical marijuana may be a beneficial treatment option for those living with the condition. Many Parkinson’s patients find themselves desperate for alternative treatment options that provide sufficient relief of their symptoms and help avoid or postpone the need for surgery…
Read More →

THC vs. CBD: What You Need to Know

With the rising demand of natural medicines, medical marijuana compounds THC and CBD are starting to make a name for themselves more than ever before. These two compounds have a wide range of health benefits, making it understandable why patients and physicians would be interested in this alternative treatment option. Although these two compounds are…
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 →

Assessing Health-Related Outcomes of Medical Cannabis Use among Older Persons: Findings from Colorado and Illinois

ABSTRACT Objectives To assess health-related outcomes associated with medical cannabis use among older patients in Colorado and Illinois enrolled in their home state’s medical cannabis program. Methods Cross-sectional data from anonymous surveys were collected from 139 persons over the age of 60 using medical cannabis in the past year. We used structural equation modeling (SEM)…
Read More →

Systematic review: Efficacy and safety of medical marijuana in selected neurologic disorders

Report of the Guideline Development Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology:   We performed a systematic review of medical marijuana (1948–November 2013) to address treatment of symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, and movement disorders. We graded the studies according to the American Academy of Neurology classification scheme for therapeutic articles. Read the full…
Read More →

Survey of oncologists finds knowledge gap on medical marijuana

As more states legalize medical marijuana, two key groups — researchers whose job is it to understand its benefits and drawbacks, and physicians charged with advising potential users — are struggling to catch up with policymakers. Ilana Braun, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and chief of the division of adult psychosocial…
Read More →

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.