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posted by on Friday March 17 2017, @05:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the better-solutions dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday March 18 2017, @01:16AM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday March 18 2017, @01:16AM (#480725) Homepage

    Fuck if I know, that's way out of my league.

    The only thing I can say about all that is that being a drunk, I swear by ibuprofen rather than acetaminophen because ibuprofen is much more friendly on the liver and just works. And if one's stomach can't handle ibuprofen then they shouldn't be drinking either.

    With respect to pain, I have a lot more experience with hangovers, so I can make a couple of quite-possibly-bullshit assumptions here based on Wikipedia. The first is that the CB1 receptors within the brain decrease GABA activity, which would alleviate some symptoms of hangovers since part of a hangover is caused by a GABA rebound, in which the brain's compensation for suppressed GABA activity while drunk becomes excessive after the booze wears off, causing excitability (mania, anxiety, or even death by seizure; depending on the extent of the alcohol abuse).

    The second possible-bullshit assumption is that, since CB2 cannabinoid receptors are part of the immune system (among other parts of the body), and alcohol is inflammatory, and the immune system is responsible for inflammation; then stimulating that receptor in the immune system (and possibly other parts of the body) could lead to a reduction of inflammation (and thus a reduction of pain).

    The Rastafarians say that Jah (God) put Marijuana on the Earth specifically for Man to use. That we have cannabinoid receptors within our bodies is proof of that.