They found prescriptions filled for all opioids decreased by 2.11m daily doses a year when a state legalized medical marijuana, and by 3.7m daily doses a year when marijuana dispensaries opened. That analysis found state medical marijuana laws were associated with a 5.8% lower rate of opioid prescribing, and states with recreational marijuana laws were associated with a 6.3% lower rate of opioid prescribing. The findings are likely to bolster legal marijuana advocates, who have long contended legal marijuana could curb the opioid epidemic. That study found states with medical marijuana laws had higher overdose rates, but that those rates declined in years after medical marijuana laws were implemented, with an average 24.8% decline. Further, it is unclear whether people avoided opioids when medical marijuana was available.

Source: The Guardian April 02, 2018 18:22 UTC