Substituting Marijuana for Opioids May Reduce Opioid-Related Deaths

Although previous studies have indicated that medical marijuana use is associated with reduced rates of death due to opioid use, the results of a recent study show that its protective effect has been limited due to strict regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries.

For their study, the researchers assessed data on treatment admissions for addiction to pain medication from 1999 to 2012 and state-level opioid overdose deaths from 1999 to 2013.
______________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
New Program Could Help Reduce Opioid Use
FDA Identifies New Unregulated Opioid
______________________________________________________________________________

When limiting the analysis to data from 1999 to 2010, the researchers observed an association between state passage of medical marijuana laws and a 20% decrease in opioid overdose deaths. However, they noted, this decrease was largely attributed to loosely regulated marijuana dispensary systems.

When analyzing data from 1999 to 2013, they did not observe any association between medical marijuana laws and lower rates of opioid overdose deaths due to stricter requirements on medical marijuana sales by dispensaries after 2010.

“As states have become more stringent in their regulation of dispensaries, the protective value generally has fallen,” the researchers concluded. “These findings suggest that broader access to medical marijuana facilitates substitution of marijuana for powerful and addictive opioids.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Powell D, Pacula RL, Jacobson M. Do medical marijuana laws reduce addictions and deaths related to pain killers? [published online February 3, 2018]. J Health Econ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.12.007.