Patient Access to Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Lowers Opioid Abuse, Study Finds
SANTA MONICA, CA State laws permitting a large percentage of patients to readily access medical cannabis dispensaries are associated with reductions in opioid-related treatment admissions and mortality, according to data published online ahead of print in theJournal of Health Economics.
Investigators from the RAND Corporation, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the University of California at Irvine assessed the relationship between patients ease of medical cannabis access and trends in opioid-related abuse.
Authors reported that rates of opioid-related deaths and treatment admissions fell significantly in jurisdictions that allowed for and had a legal channel for retail marijuana sales to qualified patients.
However, this decline was less significant in states that imposed tighter regulatory controls on medical cannabis dispensary access.
They concluded:
Their findings are similar to ...
