Pubdate: Thu, 01 Sep 2016
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2016 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: Nick Meyers

AN MMJ WIN

Does Medical Marijuana Reduce Opiate Addiction?

Many consider marijuana a "drug." However, it is no more a drug than 
cigarettes we smoke or alcohol we drink.

In fact, there is only one difference that separates marijuana from 
these other substances and it is perhaps simultaneously the best case 
for calling marijuana a drug and revoking its status as a Schedule I 
controlled substance: it has medical benefit.

One can argue that the medical benefits of marijuana have still not 
been tested to an extent that would satisfy medical benefit. Sure; 
after all, the FDA knows best. But there is one medical benefit that 
has only recently began to surface.

America has long struggled with opiate addiction. Aside from it being 
one of the most used drugs in history (I'm looking at you, Genghis 
Kahn), marijuana has also been determined by the FDA to have medical 
benefit in pain reduction and anesthesia.

The problem with opioids is that they can lead to addiction and in 
some cases death. The public chatter around this danger recently 
escalated following the overdose of beloved musical paragon Prince on 
a pain drug called Fentanyl.

Even ignoring heroin use, opioid overdose claimed more than 65,000 
lives between 1999 and 2014, according to the CDC. The CDC has also 
found that opioids are roughly 13 times more addictive than marijuana.

However, since the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in 
several states, opioid prescription and therefore opioid overdose has 
decreased.

A recent study conducted by a group called Castlight Health, which 
studies employee health benefits, found that states with legal 
medical marijuana had 50 percent fewer patients who qualified for an 
opioid prescription than states without legal medical marijuana.

The Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine 
found that states with medical marijuana also experienced a mean 
annual opioid overdose rate 24.8 percent lower than other states.

This phenomenon results from the coincidence of the effects of 
marijuana and opioids and marijuana's uncontested, lower mortality 
rate. Both drugs can be used, most commonly, to treat chronic pain in 
cancer patients.

Arizona has so far experienced a seemingly contradictory trend. 
According to a study released by the RAND Corporation, mortality 
rates of prescription overdose has decreased by 11.4 percent and 
distribution has decreased by 8.2 percent.

However, according to county documents collected by the Arizona Daily 
Star, deaths from Fentalyl overdose increased from 28 to 45 between 
2014 and 2015 in Maricopa County and seven to 17 in Pima County.

Additionally, Arizona has roughly 50 percent more medical marijuana 
patients per capita than the average in states with legal marijuana, 
which would suggest that the trend should be more prevalent than in 
other states.

The discrepancy may arise from the increase in synthetic opioids on 
the black market perpetuated by the Sinaloa cartel, as the Star 
reported in March, since the reports do not necessarily distinguish 
between deaths from subscription opioids as opposed to those obtained 
illegally.

The trend reflected in the medical field is in part due to doctors' 
ability to decrease the subscription of opioids in favor of medical marijuana.

It would be stretch to hypothesize that legalization for recreational 
use would also decrease deaths due to illegal opioids, especially 
since Colorado has reported similar trends in opioid overdose.

In any case, we can chalk this up to a win for medical marijuana for 
its role in reducing at least a portion of the problem.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom