Can Marijuana Save Us From The Opioid Crisis?

By Nicholas Quatrano, editor for HighSupplyCompany.com

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “deaths from opioids have quadrupled since 1999, killing more than 42,000 people in 2016", and currently more than 115 people overdose from opioid abuse everyday.

Marijuana has been found to hopefully and potentially slow this upward and devastating trend.

Marijuana was classified as a schedule I drug in 1970, more dangerous than heroin, cocaine, oxycodone.

A schedule I drug, is a drug that has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Despite this classification that has remained unchanged for almost 50 years, marijuana has been found, by medical professionals and recognized by government agencies, to decrease pain, inflammation, and problems with muscle controls, which is why it has been an effective treatment for seizures and cerebral palsy; it is also effective in relieving stress, depression, and anxiety.

Now, marijuana has been found to be a potential combatant to the opioid crisis.

Researches from the Rand Corp., supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, conducted, according to CNN, ‘the most detailed examination of medical marijuana and opioid deaths to date’.

In states who had legalized marijuana and established dispensaries for easy accessibility between 1999 and 2010, showed a 20% decline in opioid overdoses.

This study to many comes as no surprise.

In these states, where medical marijuana was accessible, people with chronic pain had a natural alternative treatment opposed to opioids, that has proven to be incredibly addictive and unlike opioids, is impossible to overdose on.

Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine states and medical marijuana is legal in 29 states; a 2017 Gallup poll showed that 64% of Americans support legalization.

We have come a long, long way but not far enough. Marijuana has shown to help the body, mind, spirit, and economy, yet is listed as a drug more dangerous than the one killing Americas sons and daughters.

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