aesculapian marijuana is still a relatively new phenomenon , although the early results are looking unspoilt , with a late subject indicating that opioid painkiller use is noticeably down in State that grant Doctor of the Church to prescribe hemp . The newspaper , which appears in the journalHealth Affairs , provides some arduous evidence that people in these states are indeed usingmedical marijuanafor its intended purpose , rather than just recreationally , as some had initially feared .
Researchers reviewed prescriptions filled by Medicare enrollees across the US from 2010 to 2013 , front particularly at prescription rates for medications for which marijuana can suffice as a clinical alternative . Towards the end of this timescale , data showed that the mean MD in states that let medical marijuana was prescribing 1,826 fewer doses of pharmaceutic painkillers per year than those in state of matter that did not allow theclinical use of cannabis .
doctor in these land also prescribed 562 fewer sexually transmitted disease of anti - anxiety drugs , 541 few doses of anti - nausea medication , and 486 fewer doses of pharmaceutical designed to treat seizures than doctors in other state . According to the study authors , this betoken that many people were using medical marijuana as an option to these medicinal drug by 2013 .
At that point , 17 US state , as well as the District of Columbia , had passed jurisprudence allowing the use of goods and services of the drug . Across these locations , the amount of money saved by Medicare programs as a result of this reduction in prescriptions was $ 165.2 million . The research worker judge that if all state had permitted the aesculapian use of marijuana at this sentence , the total saving would have been $ 468 million .
In astatement , sketch co - source Ashley Bradford explained that “ the resultant hint masses are really using marijuana as medicine and just using it for recreational intent , ” which is full news fall in that the number of states allowing the clinical use of the drug has since risen to 24 .
Opioid dependance is a grow health concern in the US , with many mass becoming hooked onprescription analgesic . in the first place this year , the scale of the problem was likened to an “ epidemic ” in the aftermath of a tart acclivity in overdose deaths . The switch of these highly habit-forming medication for marijuana could therefore help oneself to curb this alarming trend .
