14 DAY TRIAL // Not too long ago, researchers with the University of Pennsylvania in the US took the time to look at painkiller-related death rates in states where medical marijuana was legal and in states where the use of this weed to treat various conditions was yet to be given the green light.
Their findings are fairly surprising. In a nutshell, it turns out that fewer people die of a painkiller overdose in regions where the use of medical marijuana is approved of by law than in areas where the weed has not yet been legalized.
In a paper in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the scientists behind this research project detail that, as part of their investigation, they looked at painkiller-related death rates documented across the country between the years 1999 and 2010.
As explained by Science Daily, the data they compiled and analyzed was provided by the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (otherwise known as the CDC), and boiled down to information included in death certificates.
It was thus discovered that, although all states experienced an increase in the yearly number of documented deadly painkiller overdoses throughout the course of the study period, this increase was greater in states where medical marijuana was illegal.
Specifically, states where the use of this weed to treat chronic pain and other similar conditions was allowed by ongoing legislation had an average of 25% lower painkiller-related death rates. In 2010 alone, these lower death rates translated into about 1,700 lives being saved.
“This is the first time that we have population-level data that suggests that marijuana has medical benefits,” Marie Hayes the University of Maine commented on the outcome of this investigation into how marijuana legalization influences painkiller overdose-related death rates, as cited by Live Science.
Interestingly enough, it appears that, as time progresses, medical marijuana legalization can lower the number of painkiller-related deaths to a considerably greater extent than it did when first implemented, the University of Pennsylvania specialists say.
Thus, the states that this study focused on experienced a 20% percent drop in death rates linked to pain medication overdose during the first year following their giving the thumbs up to the use of medical marijuana. Over the course of five years, this drop moved to being one of nearly 34%.
Presently, specialists cannot say for sure how and why medical marijuana influences painkiller-related death rates. It is believed that the weed does so either by allowing people to stop using regular pain medication altogether, or by making it possible for them to lower the doses of the drugs they usually take.
“It may provide relief for some individuals,” study lead author Marcus A. Bachhuber said in a statement. “In addition, people already taking opioids for pain may supplement with medical marijuana and be able to lower their painkiller dose, thus lowering their risk of overdose,” the University of Pennsylvania researcher went on to argue.