The Free Thought Project reports via AlterNet
There's one thing that appears to be saving more lives during the opioid epidemic than anything else--medical cannabis. While government touts meaningless attempts at addressing the problem--paying lip service to the people while protecting Big Pharma's profits and filling jails--people are saving themselves by turning to an ancient plant.
Yet another scientific study has confirmed that medical cannabis access reduces harm from opioid abuse among the population. A recent study published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependency journal found that states with legal medical cannabis experience fewer hospitalizations related to opioids.
"Medical marijuana legalization was associated with 23% and 13% reductions in hospitalizations related to opioid dependence or abuse and [opioid pain reliever] OPR overdose, respectively; lagged effects were observed after policy implementation."
Researchers from the University of California analyzed hospital administrative records for the period of 1997 to 2014. The author reported:
"This study demonstrated significant reductions on OPR- (opioid pain reliever) related hospitalizations associated with the implementation of medical marijuana policies. ... We found reductions in OPR-related hospitalizations immediately after the year of policy implementation as well as delayed reductions in the third post-policy year."
The data also show that cannabis-related hospitalizations did not increase after legalization, contrary to what prohibitionists would have you believe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:39AM (1 child)
Hmmm, getting an idea here. Do you really think that I could use pot to break my internet addiction? As it is, I work from home on the screen and also spend much of my "down time" on the screen reading (and SN commenting). I do get out for bicycle rides when the weather is reasonable (spring & fall). Medical pot has just started being legal here, but I'm guessing that a 'script for it would be hard to get with these symptoms.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @02:44AM
From what I've seen it tends to make everything more interesting, internet included, so probably not...