SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Saturday March 18 2017, @08:52AM
I got some Vicodin after some oral surgery.
Like you, ended up taking two or three of 'em before I figured out those were best left in the bottle.
For some reason, these drugs don't seem to do anything for me. Alcohol puts me to sleep. Both pot and tobacco makes it really hard for me to breathe and I cough up a storm. I seem to get some benefit from aspirin. I do enjoy eating pot, though - but smoking it just plugs me up and it takes weeks to clear it out.
I can think of four chemicals that do have an almost immediate effect on me... beer will make me pee, calcium carbonate will quickly neutralize an upset tummy, phenolpthalein will give me the squirts, and potassium bicarbonate will quickly stop leg cramps. I also salt food with potassium bicarbonate, potassium gluconate, or potassium chloride, as when I get too much sodium in me, here come leg cramps. It seems as if I am literally shorting out. To me, the potassium salts taste like sodium chloride, while anything I made with magnesium tasted absolutely terrible.
I am careful about ingesting too much potassium at one time though... I get the idea that one good heavy dose will be my last.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]