Posted on 08/27/2014 7:45:57 AM PDT by mgist
Author Insights: Legalizing Medical Marijuana May Reduce Opioid Deaths
BY BRIDGET M. KUEHN on AUGUST 26, 2014
Marcus A. Bachhuber, MD, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and colleagues found that states that legalize marijuana experience lower rates of opioid deaths, on average, compared with states that dont allow medical marijuana. Image: University of Pennsylvania Opioid-overdose deaths increased in states across the country between 1999 and 2010, but states that legalized medical marijuana saw less-steep increases than those without, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine this week.
Growing use of prescription opioids over the past 2 decades to treat chronic pain has helped drive increasing rates of opioid overdoses. To help reduce the problem, state and federal governments have instituted prescription monitoring programs and drug safety plans and tightened restrictions on prescribing popular opioids. Some of these efforts have yielded reductions in opioid overdoses on a state level, but national rates continue to rise.
At the same time, a growing number of states have legalized medical marijuana. In states like Colorado, where medical marijuana has been legal since 2000, the primary reason for a physician to recommend medical marijuana is pain. Some of the other indications for prescribing medical marijuana include nausea from cancer chemotherapy and poor appetite and accompanying weight loss resulting from a chronic illness such as HIV infection.
Marcus A. Bachhuber, MD, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and his colleagues analyzed opioid overdose rates in states with or without legalized medical marijuana to see whether its availability to treat pain helps reduce opioid deaths. They found that while opioid overdose deaths have continued to increase in all states, states that permit prescribing medical marijuana had lower rates of opioid overdose deaths compared with those that do not.
Bachhuber discussed his results with news@JAMA.
news@JAMA: Why did you decide to do the study?
Dr Bachhuber: Im a primary care physician and Ive talked to many patients with chronic pain. In the past, Ive had patients who said theyve tried prescription opioid painkillers but the only thing that worked to reduce their pain was marijuana. So, my colleagues and I wondered whether people might be choosing to treat their pain with marijuana in states where this is legal, and if these states might see lower rates of painkiller overdoses or deaths.
news@JAMA: You found that the rates of opioid overdose were lower in states allowing medical marijuana. Can you explain what that means?
Dr Bachhuber: We found that rates of opioid overdose deaths have increased in all states. But in the years after the legalization of medical marijuana, states that did so had a rate that was 25% lower than what wed expect to see in that state, given past trends and what was going on in the rest of the country.
news@JAMA: Why might making medical cannabis available reduce opioid overdose rates?
Dr Bachhuber: Going into the study, we hypothesized that patients with chronic pain might replace opioids with medical marijuana or supplement opioid medications with medical marijuana, allowing them to reduce their opioid dose. Alternatively, there is still a debate about whether medical marijuana might lead patients to use other drugs, so rates of opioid overdose might have increased. We thought there could be a change in either direction, and thats why we decided to study it.
news@JAMA: Your study cant prove that medical marijuana was the factor that reduced opioid overdoses. Might there be other explanations?
Dr Bachhuber: One of the limitations of our study is that we cant identify, measure, and control for every factor that was different between the states and might be contributing to our results. If broader changes were happening in states that also implemented medical marijuana laws, such as changes in patterns of pain treatment or illicit drug use, those could be influencing our results and have nothing to do with medical marijuana. But, if medical marijuana laws are in fact reducing opioid overdose deaths, we would need studies following individuals over time to see how exactly these laws are shifting behavior.
news@JAMA: How much do we know about the use of opioids or marijuana for pain treatment?
Dr Bachhuber: Opioids are approved by the FDA for the treatment of pain; they have undergone randomized trials, but there is very little evidence for long-term use for more than a few months. Marijuana is still considered a Schedule I drug, meaning the FDA says there is no valid medical use. Because of this, there is not much research out there to help us understand the risks and benefits of medical marijuana, including what conditions could be successfully treated, which patients might benefit the most, and what the risks may be. Also, head-to-head studies of marijuana and opioids would be incredibly useful for clinical practice.
news@JAMA: What is the main take-home message from your study?
Dr Bachhuber: Our study provides evidence of a possible unexpected public health benefit of medical marijuana legalization. Medical marijuana may have other possible impacts on public health, and as more states enact these laws, it will be worth continuing to look at this issue.
Thanks for the links. I’m sure the entitlement class will embrace the idea of legalizing it, then making it free (meaning, paid for by someone else).
Isn’t this the same AMA that used kids to rail against the tobacco industry?
They are groovy with people smoking pot though?
Down is up.
Wrong: "in the years after the legalization of medical marijuana, states that did so had a rate that was 25% lower than what wed expect to see in that state, given past trends and what was going on in the rest of the country."
I have money in Wall Street too buddy. The problem is that is what gave us Obama. There is a problem.
2009-U.S. Bank Bailout, Tax Payers Fund a Total of $11.6 Trillion
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aZchK__XUF84
2012- $29 TRILLION Secretly Taken from Federal Reserve and Given to Wall Street Banks.
http://www.economonitor.com/lrwray/2012/01/11/the-29-trillion-bailout-of-wall-street-why-should-anyone-care-about-high-crimes-and-misdemeanors/
2010-Mexican Drug Cartel Laundered Millions Via Bank Of America Into U.S. Horse Racing (Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Bank of America)
Wachovia alone admitted $378.4 billion for Mexican cartels from 2004 to 2007.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
British Bank HSBC US Influence Payment
CAMPAIGN Donations $3,150,230
LOBBYING $47,308,573
http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/hsbc-north-america/3c3f0a2212224ab38161e5c7abbb9fbe
5/2012-HSBC Mexican Drug Money in Obamas 2008 Campaign?
http://larouchepac.com/node/22702
Real illicit drug revenue to criminal cartels must be much higher since Wachovia Bank alone admitted $378.4 billion for Mexican cartels in 3 years.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
10/2012-HSBC to Pay $1.92 Billion to Settle Charges of Money Laundering
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/hsbc-said-to-near-1-9-billion-settlement-over-money-laundering/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
2012-Obama Administration Official, Bob Werner, Hired by HSBC
http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/home/about/press-room/2012/news_12102012_werner_appointment
10/21012-HSBC Picks Up Another Obama Administration Official, Preeta Bansal.
http://www.americanbanker.com/people/hsbc-picks-up-another-obama-administration-official-1053825-1.html
2013-Meet Federal Employees David S. Cohen of Treasury and Stuart Levey of HSBC Or Is It the Other Way Around?
http://alternativebanking.nycga.net/2013/03/09/meet-david-s-cohen-of-treasury-and-stuart-levey-of-hsbc-or-is-it-the-other-way-around/
Corruption: Exposing Barack Obamas Illegal Foreign Campaign Money Loophole
Katie Pavlich | Oct 08, 2012
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/10/08/exposing_barack_obamas_illegal_foreign_campaign_money_loophole
10/2012-HSBC to Pay $1.92 Billion to Settle Charges of Money Laundering
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/hsbc-said-to-near-1-9-billion-settlement-over-money-laundering/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
09/2013- Obama, Holder let another big bank off the hook
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-holder-let-another-big-bank-the-ho
1/2014-HSBC Launders DRUG MONEY. Pays Fine Using Bailout Money!
http://investmentwatchblog.com/hsbc-launders-drug-money-pays-fine-using-bailout-money/#7RQyhMdBDirjcs9m.99
2010-Mexican Drug Cartel Laundered Millions Via Bank Of America Into U.S. Horse Racing (Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Bank of America)
Wachovia alone admitted $378.4 billion for Mexican cartels from 2004 to 2007.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
ILLEGAL OBAMA DONORS: MIDDLE EASTERN ARABS 08/04/2008
Gazan brothers illicit contributions listed in government campaign filings
http://www.wnd.com/2008/08/71431/#u3J1m8mt0dpAUqjW.99
Obamas Foreign Donors: The media averts its eyes -2008
By Pamela Geller
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/08/obamas_donor_contributions_sil.html
Real Illicit Drug Money for Cartels Should be Much Higher Since Wachovia admitted to Laundering $378 BILLION for Mexican Cartels from 2004-2007.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
2011 Obama DOJ Gave Cartel Enough Guns to Arm a Marine Regiment
http://townhall.com/columnists/katiepavlich/2011/07/26/obama_doj_gave_cartel_enough_guns_to_arm_a_marine_regiment/page/full
2011: SEC Ignores Rampant Money Laundering
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs
How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexicos murderous drug gangs.
10/2012-HSBC to Pay $1.92 Billion to Settle Charges of Money Laundering
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/hsbc-said-to-near-1-9-billion-settlement-over-money-laundering/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
09/2013- Obama, Holder let another big bank off the hook
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-holder-let-another-big-bank-the-ho
1/2014-HSBC Launders DRUG MONEY. Pays Fine Using Bailout Money!
http://investmentwatchblog.com/hsbc-launders-drug-money-pays-fine-using-bailout-money/#7RQyhMdBDirjcs9m.99
2010-Mexican Drug Cartel Laundered Millions Via Bank Of America Into U.S. Horse Racing (Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Bank of America)
Wachovia alone admitted $378.4 billion for Mexican cartels from 2004 to 2007.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
Wall Street Banks are illegally Laundering Drug Money with Impunity.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/money-laundering-and-the-drug-trade-the-role-of-the-banks/5334205
“Meanwhile, finance and real estate sectors in Mexico and the United States are awash with cartel profits, with one United Nations analyst arguing that drug money was the “only liquid investment capital” that kept the international economy from completely” imploding in 2008
http://m.thenation.com/article/180587-how-mexican-drug-trade-thrives-free-trade
House Votes to Allow Marijuana Related Banking 7/16/2014
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/house-supports-easier-marijuana-related-banking-24588337
Abattis Makes History as First Marijuana Stock to List on Prestigious OTCQX
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/abattis-makes-history-as-first-marijuana-stock-to-list-on-prestigious-otcqx-2014-07-15
Wall Street has given more to Obama’s Political Campaign than Any Other Politician in History.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&=&v=zt3vwWfP-EA
The Federal Reserve Deception
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/fed_reserve.htm
Century of Enslavement
http://www.corbettreport.com/federalreserve/#comments
“What does illegal heroin have to do with the pharmaceutical industry?”
Well, the brain doesn’t distinguish between heroin and pharmaceutical opiates. If you’re addicted to one, you are basically addicted to any/all of them, since they will all satisfy your cravings to some degree.
Spare me your list of links, I’m not buying what you are selling.
Post this list of links every time you comment. Add this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfpO-WBz_mw
Not proof of cause and effect — not a conclusion. It doesn’t exclude other factors. It’s an interesting insight, nothing more.
See article title.
Not proof of cause and effect
Correct.
not a conclusion.
That doesn't follow and is not correct.
The article has the title it has because they couldn’t conclude otherwise. JAMA wouldn’t let them get away with it.
“Legalizing Medical Marijuana May Reduce Opioid Deaths”
Yup. I don’t even particularly like taking advil or asperin, but I really hate what the WOD has done to this nation. It has been a war of evil and cynical manipulation to increase government power at all costs to the great detriment of our rights.
You can bet your ass if the study showed the opposite, they’d be touting it as “PROOF”. Period.
Another one I can't wait to read is:
Dope, Inc: Britain's Opium War Against the World Paperback October 20, 2010
The Opium Wars of 1840-1860 were dark chapters in the history of colonialism, when Britain made war on the Chinese to force them to import thousands of tons of opium, which crippled and impoverished their nation. It's much less well-known that the Opium Wars never really ended. The United States, like China, was too great for the London money lords to occupy directly. One way America is being brought to heel is by the drug trade. Crime and other social problems in the U.S. and Mexico are massively influenced by drugs and drug dealing. Illicit drugs may now account for as much as $1 trillion annually in financing for criminal activity and corruption.
There is no “War on Drugs”. If you believe that that WOD is the cause of destruction in this country, you are one of the millions influenced by the cartels deception.
Pure, cheap, heroin is easier for kids to get than beer. The “Just Say No” has turned into “Legalize it, it’s Medicinal”.
Heroin and all kinds of opiates are legal, legal Rx opiates are abused in epidemic numbers, and neither medical marijuana nor legal opiates Rx have done anything to eliminate the black market. They simply provide more users, acceptance, and cover for the street dealers.
Kids these days don’t stand a chance. Russia, China, and Iran, are all slave nations with epidemic addiction rates, that is what they want to do to us. Take care of your families.
Rockefeller was rumored to have a family history supporting Eugenics, I found their connection to Margaret Sanger, and the Planned Parenthood abortion industry in their own archive.
Letter from Lawrence B. Dunham to Raymond B. Fosdick, 1931 February 06
http://rockefeller100.org/items/show/2562
David Rockefeller speech on Population Control. Tell me this guy isn’t a sociopath.
Rockefellers Own Words on Population control
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ClqUcScwnn8
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Permanent brain damage:
Research has shown that IQ is a strong determinant of a persons access to a college education, their lifelong total income, their access to a good job, their performance on the job, their tendency to develop heart disease, Alzheimers disease, and even early death, she said.
Individuals who lose eight IQ points in their teens and 20s may be disadvantaged, relative to their same-age peers, in most of the important aspects of life and for years to come.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9426205/Cannabis-smoking-permanently-lowers-IQ.html
http://www.livescience.com/22711-smoking-marijuana-lowers-iq.html
Depression, schizophrenia:
http://learnaboutmarijuanawa.org/factsheets/mentalhealth.htm
Lungs
Marijuana Smokers Face Rapid Lung Destruction -- As Much As 20 Years Ahead Of Tobacco Smokers
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080123104017.htm
They also admitted the need for further investigation to determine if that was the sole cause. Please understand I am 100% in favor of medical marijuana. I don’t think the study was propaganda.
” Further investigation is required to determine how medical cannabis laws may interact with policies aimed at preventing opioid analgesic overdose.”
"Results from our pooled analyses provide little evidence for an increased risk of lung cancer among habitual or long-term cannabis smokers, although the possibility of potential adverse effect for heavy consumption cannot be excluded.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.29036/abstract
Where is it written that titles are always identical to conclusions (or lack thereof)? "In the years after the legalization of medical marijuana, states that did so had a rate that was 25% lower than what wed expect to see in that state, given past trends and what was going on in the rest of the country" is a conclusion, while not being a practical title (nor a proof of cause and effect).
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