AVAILABILITY of medical marijuana is being cited as having a potential impact on the global opioid crisis, with US research showing adult use of medicinal cannabis may reduce opioid use.
A cross-sectional study comparing prescribing trends between states found a 5.88% lower rate of opioid prescriptions in jurisdictions that started to implement medical and adult-use marijuana laws between 2011 and 2016.
Researchers concluded the potential of marijuana liberalisation laws to reduce opioid consumption was worthy of further investigation when making policy decisions.
Other marijuana impacts were not evaluated in the study.
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