In states with medical marijuana, painkiller deaths drop by 25% https://t.co/0Ne6YphOEt pic.twitter.com/jh1ZXxC7nu
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 19, 2016
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
Before Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana, I can remember being bombarded by the usual tired, impotent arguments employed by drug warriors. You’d have thought our children were going to be turned into sex-crazed zombies who’d prey on good, God-fearing, decent Americans while subsisting on mass quantities of Doritos and Coke.
The aftermath of legalization in those states, and now in Oregon as well, has demonstrated that making The Devil’s Weed © legal has so far had exactly zero adverse consequences. This stands to reason since the biggest threat from someone who’s stoned is that they may nom your Pop Tart stash in one sitting. In fact, in all three states, legalization has been a significant net positive. Colorado, in particular, has seen pot tourism develop into a major- and very lucrative- industry. This means more jobs and more tax dollars generated. Thus far, there doesn’t seem to be a downside to making marijuana legal. Sure, it’s going to require more time to fully assess the impacts, but the early returns seem positive.
Then there’s the study just published in JAMA Internal Medicine in which researchers have theorized that in states where medical marijuana is legal, pot may be used to treat pain- either in place of or to supplement opiates- thus reducing the chances of abuse, addiction, and/or a fatal overdose.
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 impossible” 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.
It’s too soon to have enough data to allow for the drawing of scientifically valid conclusions. On a purely anecdotal level, however, it does seem as if marijuana might be able to play an increasing and much safer role in chronic pain management. Time will tell, of course, and the medical and scientific communities will likely differ as to the effectiveness and reasonableness of prescribing marijuana for pain management. That said, if you’ve ever been stoned, you probably understand what “feeling no pain” means.
It’s entirely possible that marijuana may well be one aspect of a complex set of reasons explaining a drop in painkillers deaths. Whatever the reason(s), a decrease in deaths from opiate abuse can only be a very good thing. If The Devil’s Weed © can play a role in that process, that just demonstrates the sensibility in legalizing marijuana…because it’s not as if a gin-and-tonic or a Chocolate Raspberry Stout will prove effective when it comes to managing pain.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I think it’s time for a re-screening of “Reefer Madness.” I just hope we have enough Doritos and Diet Coke.
