Today I read an interesting article about a study performed by Stanford University School of Medicine concerning the affects of states that have passed medical marijuana laws and how it has changed the amount of overdoses.

Here is the article –

Opioid Overdose Deaths Not Prevented By Medical Marijuana Laws, Research Suggests

The Washington Post (6/10, Bernstein) reports, “Five years ago, a study of death certificate data attracted notice for suggesting that states that passed medical marijuana laws saw 25 percent fewer opioid overdose deaths on average than states that barred medical” marijuana. Following release of that study, “the cannabis industry” took up its findings “to help win passage of medical cannabis laws in more states, even as medical experts expressed skepticism.” Now, a new study conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine indicates that “states that introduced medical marijuana actually had…more deaths from opioid overdoses.”

The AP (6/10, Johnson) reports that after analyzing “data through 2017,” investigators found that “states passing medical marijuana laws saw a 23% higher than expected rate of deaths involving prescription opioids.” The findings were published online in PNAS.

So those findings are pretty startling aren’t they? Why do you think overdoses resulting in death increased so much?

My husband sees a pain management doctor. The doctor has suggested he try medical marijuana. The reason my husband has refused is that if it doe not work he cannot go back to the medications that were working. The insurance company would block him and it could take years to return to the proper medication that was working. So if this is promoted as a “cure all”, and I’m not saying it doesn’t help because I’m sure it can help some people. But in a situation that it didn’t work and the person couldn’t get back on his meds, where would they resort to getting it from? I’m thinking unregulated illegal places. When you buy street drugs you really don’t know what could be mixed in, you never know what you’re getting and since you haven’t taken them because you were trying medical marijuana your chance of overdose would be greater. Trying to go back to what a patient was previously using when you body isn’t used to that amount is what causes overdoses.

I agree that using medical marijuana doesn’t send you searching for stronger and stronger drugs but in the situation of medical pain relief I think it definitely has the potential to force people back to what they were using no matter how they get it. That is the dangerous part. The insurance companies and doctor need to work together to help each individual patient. Everyone is different, everyone has a different story. Ethical doctors need to defend their patients. Things need to change to protect the patient as well as to confront head on the abuse of prescription medications. There is no easy answer, but there needs to be more warnings.