Legal Marijuana States Have Lower Opiate ODs

Legalizing marijuana has led to at least one positive side effect – decreasing opioid overdose mortality rates. Here’s what you need to know, from High Times.

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States with legalized marijuana have experienced fewer opiate overdose related deaths. While this wasn’t the intended effect of legalization, it may be interesting to see what other positive public health effects legalization lead to. Here’s what you need to know from High Times’ article on the subject.

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Legal Marijuana States Have Lower Opiate ODs

By The Stoner's Cookbook

Legalizing marijuana has led to at least one positive side effect—decreasing opioid overdose mortality rates. Here's what you need to know, from High Times.

Long-term Studies
By The Stoner's Cookbook
Investigators have conducted a time-series analysis of medical cannabis laws & state-level death data from 1999-2010. 13 states instituted cannabis therapy during that time.
Facing the Facts
By The Stoner's Cookbook
"We found that states with medical cannabis laws had lower mean opioid analgesic overdose mortality rates compared with states without such laws", concludes the study.
Consistent Across Variables
By The Stoner's Cookbook
The conclusion remained the same, even when excluding intentional overdoses and including all heroin deaths, regardless if opioids were present.
Unclear relationship
By The Stoner's Cookbook
Dr. Bachhuber, lead author of the study, says that although the mechanism of the link is unclear, the study finds "that medical marijuana laws and policies may have a broader impact on public health.”