06-22-2015, 11:28 AM
America has a major problem with prescription
pain medications like Vicodin and OxyContin.
Overdose deaths from these pharmaceutical
opioids have approximately tripled since 1991,
and every day 46 people die of such overdoses in the United States.
However, in the 13 states that passed laws
allowing for the use of medical marijuana
between 1999 and 2010, 25 percent fewer
people die from opioid overdoses annually.
“The difference is quite striking,†said study co-
author Colleen Barry, a health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health in Baltimore. The shift
showed up quite quickly and become visible
the year after medical marijuana was accepted
in each state, she told Newsweek.
In the study, published today August 25 in JAMA Internal Medicine, the researchers
hypothesize that in states where medical
marijuana can be prescribed, patients may use
pot to treat pain, either instead of prescription
opiates, or to supplement them—and may thus
require a lower dosage that is less likely to lead to a fatal problem.
As with most findings involving marijuana and
public policy, however, not everyone agrees on
a single interpretation of the results.
It certainly can be said that marijuana is much
less toxic than opiates like Percocet or
morphine, and that it is “basically impossibleâ€
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.
Not so fast, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at Phoenix House, a national
nonprofit addiction treatment agency. He said
that the immediate reduction in overdose
deaths is extremely unlikely to be due to the
substitute use of the herb, for one simple
reason:
Marijuana isn’t widely prescribed for chronic pain. “You don’t have primary care doctors in these states [prescribing] marijuana instead of
Vicodin,†he said. Even in states where
medical marijuana is legal, it is only prescribed
by a small subset of doctors, and, therefore,
probably couldn’t explain the huge decrease in opiate-related overdose deaths. Kolodny says the study results are more likely due to a host of factors.
One example is differences in state policies to cut down on over-prescribing of opiate medications. Also, many people who overdose on painkillers are already addicted, and these individuals are naturally among the most likely to take too much, Kolodny told Newsweek.
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.
“This is a good example of where policy
change has gotten ahead of the science,â€
Barry said. She and Kolodny would probably
agree on that point.
pain medications like Vicodin and OxyContin.
Overdose deaths from these pharmaceutical
opioids have approximately tripled since 1991,
and every day 46 people die of such overdoses in the United States.
However, in the 13 states that passed laws
allowing for the use of medical marijuana
between 1999 and 2010, 25 percent fewer
people die from opioid overdoses annually.
“The difference is quite striking,†said study co-
author Colleen Barry, a health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health in Baltimore. The shift
showed up quite quickly and become visible
the year after medical marijuana was accepted
in each state, she told Newsweek.
In the study, published today August 25 in JAMA Internal Medicine, the researchers
hypothesize that in states where medical
marijuana can be prescribed, patients may use
pot to treat pain, either instead of prescription
opiates, or to supplement them—and may thus
require a lower dosage that is less likely to lead to a fatal problem.
As with most findings involving marijuana and
public policy, however, not everyone agrees on
a single interpretation of the results.
It certainly can be said that marijuana is much
less toxic than opiates like Percocet or
morphine, and that it is “basically impossibleâ€
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.
Not so fast, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at Phoenix House, a national
nonprofit addiction treatment agency. He said
that the immediate reduction in overdose
deaths is extremely unlikely to be due to the
substitute use of the herb, for one simple
reason:
Marijuana isn’t widely prescribed for chronic pain. “You don’t have primary care doctors in these states [prescribing] marijuana instead of
Vicodin,†he said. Even in states where
medical marijuana is legal, it is only prescribed
by a small subset of doctors, and, therefore,
probably couldn’t explain the huge decrease in opiate-related overdose deaths. Kolodny says the study results are more likely due to a host of factors.
One example is differences in state policies to cut down on over-prescribing of opiate medications. Also, many people who overdose on painkillers are already addicted, and these individuals are naturally among the most likely to take too much, Kolodny told Newsweek.
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.
“This is a good example of where policy
change has gotten ahead of the science,â€
Barry said. She and Kolodny would probably
agree on that point.