cannabisnews.com: Overdoses Fell with Medical Marijuana Legalization
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Overdoses Fell with Medical Marijuana Legalization
Posted by CN Staff on April 26, 2016 at 08:21:54 PT
By Colleen L. Barry
Source: New York Times
USA -- While opioid pain relievers offer critical benefits to certain patients, such as those with cancer-related pain, the rise of opioid prescriptions has had devastating public health consequences. The C.D.C. recently urged physicians to be very cautious in prescribing these drugs.Meanwhile, access to medical marijuana has expanded rapidly — 24 states and D.C. have legalized its broad medical use — and chronic or severe pain is the most common condition reported among those using it. On it's face, this might seem to mirror the rise in prescription opioid use.
But using state-level death certificate data from 1999 to 2010, my colleagues and I found that the annual rate of opioid overdose deaths decreased substantially — by 25 percent on average — following the passage of medical marijuana laws, compared to states that still had bans.Could medical marijuana be a safer alternative to opioids for chronic pain management? If so, it would potentially reduce harms from opioid medicines.Our study opened the door to that possibility, but it did not establish the causal mechanisms by which marijuana might influence overdose deaths and was conducted before the massive surge in heroin use and related overdose deaths.Our study should also not be used to tout the use of marijuana to treat opioid addiction, a particularly upsetting misinterpretation, as the limited evidence available points to the opposite being true: Quitting marijuana may strengthen recovery for individuals with opioid use disorders. Further research is needed.Similarly, we don't know whether the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes will have an impact — positive or negative — on nonmedical use of opioids and heroin. Again, evidence is lacking and will likely depend on how recreational marijuana is regulated. But we do know that marijuana dependence has been linked to numerous other negative health consequences independent of opioids.And if the opioid crisis has taught us anything, it should be that careful regulation, stringent oversight and ongoing evaluation are all absolutely essentially to establishing an environment that protects the public’s health.Colleen Barry is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy Research.Source: New York Times (NY)Author: Colleen L. BarryPublished: April 26, 2016Copyright: 2016 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/CH4Ki1XnCannabisNews Medical Marijuana  Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by Garry Minor on April 28, 2016 at 05:53:23 PT:
Not again!
"While opioid pain relievers offer critical benefits to certain patients, such as those with cancer-related pain ....."I'm so tired of hearing that!Maybe "certain patients" might prefer eliminating the cancer with Cannabinoids instead of going through hell and ever being prescribed the opiates in the first place?If the Truth were Known and given the option, of course!I would!Makes sense to me!Kaneh Bosm
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on April 26, 2016 at 10:05:57 PT
huh?
>>>But we do know that marijuana dependence has been linked to numerous other negative health consequences independent of opioids.She's a little short on evidence - or examples. I wonder which negative consequences she's referring to? Cotton mouth? cartoons?
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