Pain killer related overdoses are on the rise, but a recent study published by JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that the states that have legalized medical marijuana may experience fewer opiate-related deaths. When individuals with chronic pain have medical marijuana as an option for relieving their pain, they tend to rely on that more than the use of prescription pain killers. The author of the study, Dr. Marcus Bachhuber explains, “We think people with chronic pain may be choosing to treat their pain with marijuana rather than with prescription pain killers, in states where this is legal.”
The study collected data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from each state from 1999 to 2010, studying the prescription painkiller overdose rate versus whether the state had passed a medical marijuana law. The study concluded that in states where medical marijuana is legal, there are approximately 25 percent less death caused by painkiller overdose.
Dr. Bachhuber is a doctor at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center who works with many people with chronic pain. He explains, “sometimes, people with chronic pain would say only marijuana worked, or they tried marijuana as painkiller and found it worked better than prescription pills.”
The study also explains, “in summary, although we found a lower mean annual rate of opioid analgesic mortality in states with medical cannabis laws; a direct causal link cannot be established. If the relationship between medical cannabis laws and opioid analgesic overdose mortality is substantiated in further work, enactment of laws to allow for use of medical cannabis may be advocated as part of a comprehensive package of policies to reduce the population risk of opioid analgesics.”
American has a significant problem with prescription pain medication. As explained in Newsweek, deaths from prescriptions like Vicodin and OxyContin have almost tripled since 1991, and every day, there are 46 pain killer overdose-related deaths in the United States. Marijuana is much less toxic than using opioids, and it’s impossible for anyone to die from overdosing on marijuana.
Not everyone agrees that the medical marijuana is linked to the fewer painkiller related deaths though. Chief medical officer at Phoenix House, a national nonprofit addiction treatment agency, Dr. Andrew Kolodny states, “You don’t have primary care doctors in these states prescribing marijuana instead of Vicodin.”
The study collected data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from each state from 1999 to 2010, studying the prescription painkiller overdose rate versus whether the state had passed a medical marijuana law. The study concluded that in states where medical marijuana is legal, there are approximately 25 percent less death caused by painkiller overdose.
The study also explains, “in summary, although we found a lower mean annual rate of opioid analgesic mortality in states with medical cannabis laws; a direct causal link cannot be established. If the relationship between medical cannabis laws and opioid analgesic overdose mortality is substantiated in further work, enactment of laws to allow for use of medical cannabis may be advocated as part of a comprehensive package of policies to reduce the population risk of opioid analgesics.”
American has a significant problem with prescription pain medication. As explained in Newsweek, deaths from prescriptions like Vicodin and OxyContin have almost tripled since 1991, and every day, there are 46 pain killer overdose-related deaths in the United States. Marijuana is much less toxic than using opioids, and it’s impossible for anyone to die from overdosing on marijuana.
Not everyone agrees that the medical marijuana is linked to the fewer painkiller related deaths though. Chief medical officer at Phoenix House, a national nonprofit addiction treatment agency, Dr. Andrew Kolodny states, “You don’t have primary care doctors in these states prescribing marijuana instead of Vicodin.”
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