Legalizing medical marijuana is related to a “decrease frequency” of nonprescribed pharmaceutical opioid use, in accordance with a examine revealed this month within the Worldwide Journal of Psychological Well being and Habit.
Whereas the lower was somewhat small—between about 0.6 % and 1.5 % for normal to frequent opioid use—and was concentrated in individuals who met diagnostic standards for hashish use dysfunction, the researchers stated it might sign “substitution results with partial alternative of opioids by hashish.”
The analysis staff, from the colleges of public well being at Rutgers and Columbia universities in addition to the College of Arizona’s College of Authorities and Public Coverage, stated the outcomes spotlight “the significance of figuring out tradeoffs of hashish legalization as an intervention to cut back opioid-related harms.”
The examine used nationwide survey knowledge from 2004 to 2014 to look at nonmedical prescription opioid (NMPO) use—particularly, prescription opioids used with no prescription or in a way apart from prescribed.
Regardless of the lower in common and frequent opioid use, the examine additionally discovered that medical hashish legalization (MCL) was related to a 2.1 % improve within the occasional use of nonmedical prescription opioids, outlined as between as soon as and 12 instances per yr.
When researchers additional broke down the findings, they discovered that individuals with hashish use dysfunction (CUD) had been driving the pattern. Amongst folks with CUD, frequent (that means weekly to day by day) opioid use fell by 4.9 % after the implementation of medical marijuana legal guidelines, whereas occasional use elevated by 5.6 %.
The lead creator of the examine, Hillary Samples, a professor of well being programs and coverage on the Rutgers College of Public Well being, stated that whereas the primary outcomes recommend folks could also be changing opioids with hashish, the lower in opioid use is modest and restricted to high-risk marijuana customers. It could be value bearing in mind from a harm-reduction perspective, but it surely’s removed from the one solution to deal with drawback opioid use.
“There may be some advantages to permitting authorized entry to medical hashish within the context of opioid-related harms,” Samples stated in a Rutgers press release concerning the examine. “Nonetheless, from a coverage perspective, there are way more efficient interventions to handle the continued overdose disaster, akin to growing entry to therapy for opioid habit.”
Try a brand new publication from @RutgersPETS researcher @HillarySamples discovering that medical #cannabis legalization is related w/ a lower 📉 in frequency of nonmedical prescription #opioiduse.#cannabis #opioiduse @RutgersResearch @rutgershealth https://t.co/JGZuyGdg8A
— Rutgers Institute for Well being (@rutgersifh) November 14, 2023
“From a hurt discount perspective, this discovering might recommend that MCL implementation has potential to cut back danger of opioid-related morbidity and mortality in high-risk teams with hashish use dysfunction,” the study itself says. “Nonetheless, the potential tradeoffs of MCL warrant considerate consideration by public well being practitioners and policymakers. Present proof signifies that MCL is related to will increase in hashish use and dysfunction.”
Authors stated that to raised perceive how medical marijuana legal guidelines impression opioid use, future analysis “must also embrace measures of the aim or indications for hashish use.”
“Whereas this implies MCL implementation has some potential to cut back danger of opioid-related morbidity and mortality in high-risk teams with hashish habit,” the examine concludes, “findings must be interpreted within the context of broader literature on the affiliation of MCL with hashish outcomes and on the affiliation of individual-level hashish use with antagonistic opioid-related outcomes.”
The findings, whereas underwhelming from the standpoint of ending the continued opioid overdose epidemic, nonetheless contribute to a physique of analysis indicating that authorized entry to hashish can cut back numerous types of opioid use.
In August, for instance, a federally funded examine discovered that marijuana was considerably related to diminished opioid cravings for folks utilizing them with no prescription, suggesting that increasing entry to authorized hashish might present extra folks with a safer substitute.
A separate examine revealed final month discovered that authorized entry to CBD merchandise led to important reductions in opioid prescriptions, with state-level drops of between 6.6 % and eight.1 % fewer prescriptions.
A report from this summer season, in the meantime, linked medical marijuana use to decrease ache ranges and diminished dependence on opioids and different prescription medicines. One other, revealed by the American Medical Affiliation (AMA) in February, discovered that continual ache sufferers who obtained medical marijuana for longer than a month noticed important reductions in prescribed opioids.
AMA additionally launched analysis exhibiting that about one in three continual ache sufferers report utilizing hashish as a therapy choice, and most of that group has used hashish as an alternative to different ache medicines, together with opioids.
State-level marijuana legalization is related to main reductions in prescribing of the opioid codeine particularly, too, in accordance with a examine that leveraged knowledge from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
A examine that was launched final yr equally discovered that giving folks authorized entry to medical hashish will help sufferers cut back their use of opioid painkillers, or stop use altogether, with out compromising high quality of life.
There’s additionally no deficit of anecdotal studies, data-based research and observational analyses which have signaled that some folks use hashish as an alternative choice to conventional pharmaceutical medicine like opioid-based painkillers and sleep medicines.