All year, researchers from all over the country have been publishing concrete evidence proving that the legalization of medical marijuana leads to happier, healthier patients.
Another study, released this week, has found that patients are replacing their prescription drugs with medical marijuana.
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, the study concluded that chronic pain sufferers who were legally able to use medical cannabis eventually ended up using fewer opioids and other dangerous prescription drugs.
By the 10-month mark of being enrolled in the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program (MCP), patients with chronic back pain, arthritis, chronic headaches, fibromyalgia, and other chronic musculoskeletal conditions significantly reduced their prescription drug use.
Over a third of the patients enrolled in the MCP stopped using prescription drugs altogether, compared to only two percent of the non-enrolled participants.
Curiously, medical cannabis patients did not significantly reduce their prescription opioid use until later in the study.
On average, medical cannabis patients ended up cutting their prescription drug use in half, whereas individuals who weren’t part of the program ended up taking more prescription drugs by the end of the study. »
