A new study shoots down the notion that medical marijuana laws can prevent opioid overdose deaths, challenging a favorite talking point of legal pot advocates. The previous work linked medical marijuana laws to slower than expected increases in state prescription opioid death rates from 1999 to 2010. It's unlikely, they said, that medical marijuana laws caused first one big effect and then the opposite. The studies on marijuana laws and opioid deaths don't account for that. Marijuana has been shown to help ease chronic pain, and other studies have suggested medical marijuana laws may reduce opioid prescribing.

Source: ABC News June 10, 2019 19:08 UTC