... Last month, a review of the research found good evidence to support pot's use for chronic pain. Prior to that, a study indicated that medical marijuana could lead to fewer prescription painkiller overdose deaths. And now, a new study went further: States with laws that allow medical marijuana dispensaries have seen a relative reduction in opioid overdose deaths and addiction treatment admissions.
All of this research suggests marijuana could help solve one of the trickiest problems in health care today: How does the US balance caring for 100 million pain patients and preventing opioid painkiller addiction and deaths? If marijuana is a good pain reliever, the answer could be that America doesn't need to, at least for some patients — instead, just give them pot.
The working paper from David Powell and Rosalie Pacula of the RAND Corporation and Mireille Jacobson of the University of California, Irvine, concluded, "Our findings suggest that providing broader access to medical marijuana may have the potential benefit of reducing abuse of highly addictive painkillers."
