Cannabis Legalization Decreased Opioid Related Hospitalizations

Today we review a study done in 2017 in regards to the unintended impacts of legalizing medical marijuana that many suspected would create an increase in hospitalizations for patients that use both Cannabis and Opioid Medications. This research found that no increase such as this can be proven, rather a decrease in opioid pain reliever use as well as hospitalization in regards to such. While the anti-cannabis drum keeps on beating, there's no way to debate pharmaceutical and hospital records that prove it's ability to both decrease the use of drugs of dependence such as opioids or the decrease of hospitalization for the combination of the two. With legalization, many assumed that the depression of the CNS by pain medications combined with cannabis (with high THC) would have caused a higher number of people overdosing or hospitalized due to respiratory issues and more. Let's take a look at the research: "Medical marijuana policies and hospitalizations related to marijuana and opioid pain reliever" By: Yuyan Shi, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, CA, Published online 2017 Feb 21. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.01.006 Abstract:

Objectives

Twenty-eight states in the U.S. have legalized medical marijuana, yet its impacts on severe health consequences such as hospitalizations remain unknown. Meanwhile, the prevalence of opioid pain reliever (OPR) use and outcomes has increased dramatically. Recent studies suggested unintended impacts of legalizing medical marijuana on OPR, but the evidence is still limited. This study examined the associations between state medical marijuana policies and hospitalizations related to marijuana and OPR.

Methods

State-level annual administrative records of hospital discharges during 1997–2014 were obtained from the State Inpatient Databases (SID). The outcome variables were rates of hospitalizations involving marijuana dependence or abuse, opioid dependence or abuse, and OPR overdose in 1,000 discharges. Linear time-series regressions were used to assess the associations of implementing medical marijuana policies to hospitalizations, controlling for other marijuana- and OPR-related policies, socioeconomic factors, and state and year fixed effects.

Results

Hospitalizations related to marijuana and OPR increased sharply by 300% on average in all states. Medical marijuana legalization was associated with 23% (p=.008) and 13% (p=.025) reductions in hospitalizations related to opioid dependence or abuse and OPR overdose, respectively; lagged effects were observed after policy implementation. The operation of medical marijuana dispensaries had no independent impacts on OPR- related hospitalizations. Medical marijuana polices had no associations with marijuana-related hospitalizations.

Conclusion

Medical marijuana policies were significantly associated with reduced OPR-related hospitalizations but had no associations with marijuana-related hospitalizations. Given the epidemic of problematic use of OPR, future investigation is needed to explore the causal pathways of these findings.

Read the full study at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5385927/