Indopedia All Things Marijuana
The federal government may soon be forced to downgrade the Schedule I listing of the cannabis plant. Not only are Uncle Sam’s health agencies starting to learn that the “Devil’s Harvest” does, in fact, have some therapeutic qualities, but they also recently admitted the herb may also have the power to curb the national opioid epidemic.
Sometime within the past few weeks, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) updated its webpage on marijuana to include information about how they are finding out that the medical cannabis sector may be lowering the use of prescription opioids in states where it is legal.
The agency pointed to two recent studies funded by the government that explored this newfound phenomenon, both of which now have health officials saying that, “medical marijuana products may have a role in reducing the use of opioids needed to control pain.”
Referencing the first study, NIDA said it “found an association between medical marijuana legalization and a reduction in overdose deaths from opioid pain relievers, an effect that strengthened in each year following the implementation of legislation.”
In the second study, the agency said it…
