US Opioid Epidemic: Medical Marijuana as Alternative?

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, July 11, 2017

As an opioid abuse epidemic continues in the United States, analysts have scoured for possible alternatives to addictive opioid painkillers. Medical marijuana is being looked at as one possible alternative course for painkiller addicts.

Drug overdose has long been an issue in the United States, with a majority of more than 52,000 people dying in 2015 due to improper use of opioid painkillers, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With almost two-thirds of overdose deaths linked to opioid use, the number of people addicted to Heroin and opioid painkillers continues to be an issue. About two million people are hooked not just on Heroin but also on prescribed medication including oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl.

The situation has become such to the point where some are making exasperated suggestions, including just letting the addicts die, as suggested by a city council member in Ohio. It's a frustrated response to calls from households with overdosing opioid addicts that already threaten the city's emergency response services.

Scientists have been looking at solutions to the opioid epidemic, and they have gone as far as suggesting legalized medical marijuana as an alternative.

The suggestion has some basis to it, as studies including a paper from the American Pain Society suggests that chronic pain sufferers who use medical cannabis reported a 64 percent decline in opioid dependency.

The findings in the said study, conducted in 2016, corroborates another study done in 2014 as published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The association's paper points out that opioid overdose deaths were about 25 percent lower in states that have provisions for medical cannabis use.

The House of Representatives is also now realizing the option that legal cannabis provides. Republican House Minority Leader Nate Gentry suggests that "Medical cannabis has great potential as an opioid replacement drug and we want to move people away from being prescribed highly addictive opiates," as quoted by Rolling Stone.