THis JAMA Internal Medicine article concludes that states that have medical marijuana have lower opiate overdose death rates.
It is no secret that the number of patients with noncancer pain who receive opiate prescriptions has nearly doubled in the past decade. As this has occurred, the number of opiate overdoses and deaths has similarly peaked. Many of the current strategies have looked at development and use of prescription drug monitoring programs, increased scrutiny of patients and providers, and enhanced access to substance abuse treatment. Less attention has been given to alternative treatments like marijuana.
This article examines marijuana’s potential part in opiate abuse strategies.
As of July 2014, a total of 23 states have enacted laws establishing medical cannabis programs6 and chronic or severe pain is the primary indication in most states.7– 10 Medical cannabis laws are associated with increased cannabis use among adults.11 This increased access to medical cannabis may reduce opioid analgesic use by patients with chronic pain, and therefore reduce opioid analgesic overdoses. Alternatively, if cannabis adversely alters the pharmacokinetics of opioids or serves as a “gateway” or “stepping stone” leading to further substance use,12– 14 medical cannabis laws may increase opioid analgesic overdoses. Given these potential effects, we examined the relationship between implementation of state medical cannabis laws and opioid analgesic overdose deaths in the United States between 1999 and 2010.
Three states (California, Oregon, and Washington) had medical cannabis laws effective prior to 1999. Ten states (Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont) enacted medical cannabis laws between 1999 and 2010. States with medical cannabis laws had a 24.8% lower mean annual opioid overdose mortality rate (95% CI, −37.5% to −9.5%; P = .003) compared with states without medical cannabis laws. Examination of the association between medical cannabis laws and opioid analgesic overdose mortality in each year after implementation of the law showed that such laws were associated with a lower rate of overdose mortality that generally strengthened over time: year 1 (−19.9%; 95% CI, −30.6% to −7.7%; P = .002), year 2 (−25.2%; 95% CI, −40.6% to −5.9%; P = .01), year 3 (−23.6%; 95% CI, −41.1% to −1.0%; P = .04), year 4 (−20.2%; 95% CI, −33.6% to −4.0%; P = .02), year 5 (−33.7%; 95% CI, −50.9% to −10.4%; P = .008), and year 6 (−33.3%; 95% CI, −44.7% to −19.6%; P < .001). In secondary analyses, the findings remained similar.
Conclusions and Relevance Medical cannabis laws are associated with significantly lower state-level opioid overdose mortality rates. Further investigation is required to determine how medical cannabis laws may interact with policies aimed at preventing opioid analgesic overdose.