Opioid Use and Fatalities Decrease in States with Legalized Medical Marijuana

Recent research suggests that medical marijuana laws have a positive impact on opioid use and on deaths related to overdose on opioids. But it’s not just about legalization — laws must make medical marijuana accessible as well as legal. The nation is finally beginning to grapple with its opioid problem. After the president declared a national health emergency over opioid addiction in October 2017, the National Institute of Health (NIH) unveiled its HEAL initiative. HEAL’s top priorities for combatting the crisis would be providing wider access to recovery resources and supporting research that could discover better ways of managing pain. As we’ve written in the past, many experts believe medical marijuana could effectively be used to offset the risk of opioid addiction among patients dealing with chronic pain. Now, there’s research that explicitly supports this idea on a state-wide scale — a study from the Journal of Health Economics has found that states with medical cannabis laws prescribe opioid dosages to citizens per day, as well as see fewer opioid overdoses. The NIH and organizations working to stem this health crisis must continue to research marijuana’s potential as an aid in treating chronic pain.