Topline
As continued research explores the potential health benefits of cannabis in light of the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation, a new survey suggests that medical cannabis could be a reliable substitute for highly-addictive opioids used for pain relief.
Key Facts
In the survey published on Wednesday in the journal Substance Use & Misuse, about 90% of over 2100 participants reported cannabis as being “very” or “extremely” helpful in treating their various medical conditions such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, an overwhelming 88.7% of the participants also noted that cannabis greatly improved their quality of life.
Over 1200 of the participants had been given a cannabis prescription to treat their chronic pain in an attempt to substitute their use of all types of opioids, including oxycodone and codeine. Of those people, 79% of them were able to stop or reduce their opioid use after being prescribed medical marijuana.
86% of the chronically pain stricken patients said that cannabis helped reduce their conditions, and 84% of them had an improvement in functioning throughout their daily life.
Major side effects, according to the researches at Emerald Coast Research and the Florida State University College of Medicine, include dry mouth, increased appetite, and drowsiness.
Big Number
70,168 people have died as a result of opioid-related overdoses in the United States in 2020, according to a Lancet report. With a 37% increase in deaths from the year prior, prescription and non-prescription opioid deaths have become a growing problem over the past 21 years. Since 1999, over half a million people have died from this crisis with casualties increasing by over eight times the rate.
Contra
Recreational marijuana and increased consumption of cannabis products may come with greater health risks. A study published in June by BMJ Open Respiratory Research suggests that people who use cannabis regularly have a higher risk of hospitalization as a result of acute trauma and respiratory problems.
Key Background
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe in the full legalization of cannabis putting the nation at a tipping point. Three quarters of the nation have already established a medical marijuana program, and 19 of those states including Washington D.C. legalizing cannabis to a recreational level.
CBD, a popular non-psychoactive cannabinoid derived from industrial hemp, is reported to potentially help treat chronic pain, however, more research is still required. In the meantime, health experts and lawmakers have been doing their best to combat the ongoing opioid crisis. Last week, the Biden administration announced spending $1.5 billion in anti-overdose medications like naloxone to combat opioid overdoses.
Opioid overdoses and prescriptions are also believed to be worsened by misleading marketing campaigns set by big pharmaceutical companies with minimal oversight.
If the epidemic is not contained, it is warned by the Stanford-Lancet Commission on North American Opioid Crisis that over 1.2 million opioid related deaths in U.S. and Canada will have occurred by 2029.
Crucial Quote
Emerald Cost Research neuroscientist and researcher in the survey Carolyn Pritchett acknowledged a “larger number of people feel the need to take opioid pain medication,” but “if there’s the option to instead use a medicine with less harmful side-effects including a lower risk of overdose and death then it should perhaps be considered.”
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