As Illinois slowly moves toward starting its medical marijuana program, a new study by the Journal American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine has found another positive side-effect.
The study by the JAMA discovered legalized medical marijuana states have seen a significantly lower number of prescription painkiller overdoses each year from patients with chronic pain.
The study reviewed data from 1999 to 2010 in each of the 50 states including death certificate information and medical marijuana laws. During this time frame, only 13 states had passed medical marijuana legislation. The study indicates a nearly 25 percent lower rate of prescription painkiller overdose deaths since the start of a state's medical marijuana law.
"We think that people with chronic pain may be choosing to treat their pain with marijuana rather than with prescription painkillers in states where this is legal," lead author Dr. Marcus Bachhuber, a researcher with the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center said.
Dr. Gregory Arnold, MD, of St. Margaret's Valley Pain Clinic noted their are pros and cons with any drug treatment, and medicinal marijuana could be the next problem area.
"Medicinal marijuana offers exciting new options for the treatment of some chronic debilitating pain conditions such as cancer pain, HIV and multiple sclerosis," Arnold said. "As with chronic opioid medication management, patient's need to be selected appropriately for medicinal marijuana therapy. The current epidemic of opioid misuse and overdoses can be attributed to overprescribing and a lack of appropriate patient selection. My concern with the results of the above study is as follows, if inappropriate prescribing patterns continue as they have with opioid prescribing, we may find ourselves in a similar epidemic with medicinal marijuana."
According to the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 100 Americans die each day from narcotic painkiller overdose. The JAMA Internal Medicine study results indicate when legalized medical marijuana is available, it does offer an alternative to chronic pain patients and a potentially less lethal medical treatment for long-term pain control care.
In the past 20 years, drug overdoses have grown according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2011 alone, 55 percent of drug overdose deaths were directly related to prescription medications, of which 75 percent of those involved opioid analgesics, the class of drug that includes the codeine, morphine, Oxycontin and methadone.
Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws, which cover a wide amount of conditions for usage that include HIV, cancer and glaucoma. Many of the laws also include medical marijuana usage where it can provide pain relief. Chronic pain affects over 100 million Americans according to the American Academy of Pain Medicine.
A different viewpoint is given from the director of the Center for Medical Cannabis Research by Dr. Igor Grant, chair of psychiatry at the University of California-San Diego. Grant states that the new study is viewed by some physicians as the "opioid-sparring" effect. According to Grant, physicians have combined certain drugs for a long time. With combinations of certain medicines physicians are able to use a smaller opioid dose and decrease the risk of opioid overdose.
With legalized medical marijuana laws on the books, some states have worried about the increase in recreational marijuana use. Studies have shown to date when marijuana is legalized, it tends to increase recreational usage among adults. Scientists and physicians are concerned on long-term health affects of such usage, asserting there have not been enough studies on this issue.