Posted on 07/24/2016 1:08:30 PM PDT by Wolfie
One striking chart shows why pharma companies are fighting legal marijuana
There's a body of research showing that painkiller abuse and overdose are lower in states with medical marijuana laws. These studies have generally assumed that when medical marijuana is available, pain patients are increasingly choosing pot over powerful and deadly prescription narcotics. But that's always been just an assumption.
Now a new study, released in the journal Health Affairs, validates these findings by providing clear evidence of a missing link in the causal chain running from medical marijuana to falling overdoses. Ashley and W. David Bradford, a daughter-father pair of researchers at the University of Georgia, scoured the database of all prescription drugs paid for under Medicare Part D from 2010 to 2013.
They found that, in the 17 states with a medical-marijuana law in place by 2013, prescriptions for painkillers and other classes of drugs fell sharply compared with states that did not have a medical-marijuana law. The drops were quite significant: In medical-marijuana states, the average doctor prescribed 265 fewer doses of antidepressants each year, 486 fewer doses of seizure medication, 541 fewer anti-nausea doses and 562 fewer doses of anti-anxiety medication.
But most strikingly, the typical physician in a medical-marijuana state prescribed 1,826 fewer doses of painkillers in a given year.
These conditions are among those for which medical marijuana is most often approved under state laws. So as a sanity check, the Bradfords ran a similar analysis on drug categories that pot typically is not recommended for — blood thinners, anti-viral drugs and antibiotics. And on those drugs, they found no changes in prescribing patterns after the passage of marijuana laws.
"This provides strong evidence that the observed shifts in prescribing patterns were in fact due to the passage of the medical marijuana laws," they write.
In a news release, lead author Ashley Bradford wrote, "The results suggest people are really using marijuana as medicine and not just using it for recreational purposes."
One interesting wrinkle in the data is glaucoma, for which there was a small increase in demand for traditional drugs in medical-marijuana states. It's routinely listed as an approved condition under medical-marijuana laws, and studies have shown that marijuana provides some degree of temporary relief for its symptoms.
The Bradfords hypothesize that the short duration of the glaucoma relief provided by marijuana — roughly an hour or so — may actually stimulate more demand in traditional glaucoma medications. Glaucoma patients may experience some short-term relief from marijuana, which may prompt them to seek other, robust treatment options from their doctors.
The tanking numbers for painkiller prescriptions in medical marijuana states are likely to cause some concern among pharmaceutical companies. These companies have long been at the forefront of opposition to marijuana reform, funding research by anti-pot academics and funneling dollars to groups, such as the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, that oppose marijuana legalization.
Pharmaceutical companies have also lobbied federal agencies directly to prevent the liberalization of marijuana laws. In one case, recently uncovered by the office of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the Department of Health and Human Services recommended that naturally derived THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana, be moved from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act — a less restrictive category that would acknowledge the drug's medical use and make it easier to research and prescribe. Several months after HHS submitted its recommendation, at least one drug company that manufactures a synthetic version of THC — which would presumably have to compete with any natural derivatives — wrote to the Drug Enforcement Administration to express opposition to rescheduling natural THC, citing "the abuse potential in terms of the need to grow and cultivate substantial crops of marijuana in the United States."
The DEA ultimately rejected the HHS recommendation without explanation.
In what may be the most concerning finding for the pharmaceutical industry, the Bradfords took their analysis a step further by estimating the cost savings to Medicare from the decreased prescribing. They found that about $165 million was saved in the 17 medical marijuana states in 2013. In a back-of-the-envelope calculation, the estimated annual Medicare prescription savings would be nearly half a billion dollars if all 50 states were to implement similar programs.
"That amount would have represented just under 0.5 percent of all Medicare Part D spending in 2013," they calculate.
Cost-savings alone are not a sufficient justification for implementing a medical-marijuana program. The bottom line is better health, and the Bradfords' research shows promising evidence that medical-marijuana users are finding plant-based relief for conditions that otherwise would have required a pill to treat.
"Our findings and existing clinical literature imply that patients respond to medical marijuana legislation as if there are clinical benefits to the drug, which adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that the Schedule 1 status of marijuana is outdated," the study concludes.
One limitation of the study is that it only looks at Medicare Part D spending, which applies only to seniors. Previous studies have shown that seniors are among the most reluctant medical-marijuana users, so the net effect of medical marijuana for all prescription patients may be even greater.
The Bradfords will next look at whether similar patterns hold for Medicaid.
Yeah, I am not sure exactly how much opiates must be abused in order to cause an addiction.
I have been prescribed various bottles of opiates for broken bones, back pain, dental work and things like that over the years. Usually had about 20 tablets or so. I completed the prescription with no addiction troubles.
When I was abusing Loricet, I didn’t really take it that often because it was more expensive at 5 dollars per 10 mgs. it was also extremely potent, and if I took too much or on an empty stomach, it would make me puke, and that’s no fun.
A couple of times my buddy’s brother gave me an oxycontin, the weakest one, which I think is 10mgs, but I am not sure. That stuff was so damn potent, I did not enjoy it at all, so I never really got into that.
The drug that I did abuse on a daily basis for a long period of time was Xanax. That is very easy to abuse, because you don’t need much in terms of milligram dosage before you start moving into you are doing waaay to much of this territory, and before you know it you have a habit, and if you run out, you are going to know what hell on Earth is real quick.
Yeah, i had heard about that and seen the commericial on TV about it.
The I read that opiate addicts are abusing Immodium AD, because the active ingredient in that is a small dose of an opiate to slow down the bowels.
Apparently if they ingest around 300 tablets, they can get their fix :O
“But it’s effectiveness as an analgesic/pain killer is undisputed. And welcome.”
I use an Indica strain most nights right before I go to bed. It’s been a real blessing for my pain and muscles.
I did not rant about anything
I am well aware of edibles and vamping and oils and marinol
I challenge you to cite data that shows that most regular users.....
I am also aware of oils and marinol
Maybe
Those studies are still being done
No where did I say anything tea or nay about marijuana as such
I commented solely on the nature of this study
Actually there are
I know lots of pot addicts. It helps them change how they feel so they don’t have to face life. Note I did not say all.
No better way to screw up lung tissue then to absorb super heated chemicals and black tar. Aside from the issue of marijuana useage, which I am not addressing, smoking/inhaling extremely hot vapors damages lung tissue and that is why it aint medicine if you smoke it.
Great!
A friend of mine (my neighbor) has a severe back strain in his lower back. Many times I have wandered over to his house and he’s flat on his back on a heating pad or whatever.
He got some CBD oil. He has not, afaik, been flat on his back since he got it.
Says it’s a miracle.
And no high, just pain relief.
As was discovered centuries ago as well, it is not necessary to inhale hot smoke. Healing incenses and water pipes have been around for thousands of years.
I don’t like tranquilizing drugs. Even with a minute amount, I fall asleep. I prefer being awake.
A friend of mine has severe pain in his hands from some neuropathy that only people of Nordic origins get. He had a botched surgery on one hand that made the pain worse.
Someone gave him some CBD oil and he says it’s amazing. He’s trained in Chinese medicine so he has tried everything in that pharmacopeia and his best friend is an M.D. also trained in TCM so he’s tried everything in the western medicine chest too. He says the relief is immediate and it doesn’t take much of the cream to work.
I had my knee rebuilt a few years ago, was prescribed opiates. Thats how I found out. I turned to weed, whiskey and lots of ice after a couple days of no bowel movements.
That number has risen to 25. Trump supports medical marijuana and said outright legalization should be decided state-by-state.
Marijuana prohibition is dead in America.
Every year, overdoses of medicines containing acetaminophen send more than 78,000 people to emergency rooms. One third of those emergencies happened by accident, according to a Consumer Products Safety Commission study. An estimated 150 people die each year from accidental acetaminophen overdoses, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than the number who die from intentional overdoses of acetaminophen to commit suicide.
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Committing suicide with Tylenol is a thankless task. Watched a man who downed hundreds and a six of beer die, back in 76. Trashes the liver, a long nasty way to die.
These days intentional overdoes are treated with a medication discovered to block the liver killing properties of a Tylenol OD. So that is why more accidentals die. They are already in failure when identified.
“...smoking/inhaling extremely hot vapors damages lung tissue and that is why it aint medicine if you smoke it.”
Then prescription drugs whose “side effects” are often damage to various organs aren’t medicine either.
To have a physical addiction to alcohol or opiates one needs long term use. The body needs to habituate to the substance. And the body has withdrawal symptoms.
Alcohol is the dangerous withdrawal.
Opiates, no so much at all.
One of my sisters did medical transcription. Apparently, this is a serious problem.
Accidental OD. I am sure it is. Half the population is on the left side of the normal curve.
This chart is why the government is slamming down on manufactured opiates, leaving the border open and permitting the heroin glut.
Payola.
We live in a third world nation.
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