America has always huge issues when it comes to prescribing pain medications such as Vicodin and OxyContin. In fact, overdose death from pharmaceutical opioids haveincreased since 1991. Apparently, it has been noted that 46 people pass away on the daily of overdoses in the US.
Since laws passed medical marijuana in 13 states, 25% fewer people passed away from opioid overdoses yearly.
Collen Barry is a healthy policy researcher located a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. He noted how the difference is quite striking since such statistics determine a life and death situation. Suddenly, the shift began showing as well as becoming visible once medical marijuana was accepted.
According to Newsweek, the shift began showing as well as becoming visible once medical marijuana was accepted in each state.
Apparently, it has been hypothesized that patients are allowed to utilize cannabis in order to treat chronic pain instead of relying on prescription opiates, or to supplement them. Of course, lower dosages are required but the great thing is that a fatal issue is less likely to occur.
It certainly can be said that marijuana is much less toxic than opiates like Percocet or morphine, and that it is “basically impossible” to die from an overdose of weed, Barry said. Based on those agreed-upon facts, it would seem that an increased use in marijuana instead of opiates for chronic pain is the most obvious explanation of the reduction in overdose deaths.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny is a chief medical officer at Phoenix House stated that the reduction in overdose deaths is pretty much unlikely to be, due to the substitution of the herb. The simple reason being that Cannabis is not widely prescribed to help with chronic pain.
“You don’t have primary care doctors in these states [prescribing] marijuana instead of Vicodin,” he said.
Even though marijuana is legal in some states, it usually is only prescribed by a small subset of doctors. Due to this, the huge decrease in opiate-related overdose deaths could not be explained.
In regards to this, those who overdose on painkillers have been said to have already been addicted and, therefore, these people are most likely to take way too much. States that pass progressive laws to treat addiction may be more likely to lower their rates of overdose deaths; for political reasons these states may also be more likely to legalize medical marijuana.
Barry said:
“This is a good example of where policy change has gotten ahead of the science.”
What are your thoughts?
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