Lawful Access To Cannabis Helping Save Lives In Colorado

in #cannabis7 years ago

Cannabis has been legalized in Colorado for some time now and according to a new study, researchers say that it's helping to save lives in the state.

Many states right now are dealing with an opioid prescription crisis and thousands of people are losing their lives every year because of opioid addiction. Researchers say that having lawful access to cannabis in Colorado has helped to prompt a reversal of those opioid-related deaths.

They suspect that it has helped to decrease those deaths by around 5 percent or more within just a couple of years time.


Previous studies have found that an overwhelming number of patients would prefer to go with cannabis instead of opioid prescriptions or other medications. And it's been suggested that cannabis could play a major role in helping people to deal with their alcohol abuse and drug addiction.

It's estimated that roughly 93 percent of patients would prefer to use cannabis as a treatment method instead of opioids.

This could be because many people report seeing drastically fewer (if any at all) side effects when taking cannabis, as opposed to what they see when they take opioids. And when it comes to prescription medications like opioids, some research has suggested that in many cases it only makes symptoms of chronic pain much worse.

For roughly 1 in 4 individuals who end up receiving opioid prescriptions, it's estimated that they will end up struggling with addiction at some point in their life.

And withdrawal symptoms from opioid prescriptions are reported to be symptoms like: nausea, headaches, irritability, sweating, and worse. Researchers have suggested that cannabis could be detrimental in helping people to overcome their opioid and other drug addictions that are potentially much more harmful. In this sense, it could act then as the perfect exit gateway drug.

Researchers in Colorado say that they want to keep a close eye on the numbers, they want to know if this trend continues. They are also hoping to compare their results to other states, to see if they've had similar results. They say that more research on this topic is needed and for now these results are preliminary.

Pics:
Pixabay

The information that is posted above is not intended or implied to ever be used as any substitute for professional medical advice, or diagnosis or treatment. The above is posted for informational purposes only.

Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/16/legal-marijuana-is-saving-lives-in-colorado-study-finds/?utm_term=.0fae22c23ff1
https://steemit.com/health/@doitvoluntarily/5-big-pharma-companies-sued-over-their-contribution-to-opioid-crisis
http://www.newsweek.com/legalizing-cannabis-opioid-deaths-how-marijuana-saving-lives-colorado-686949

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Legal system is introduced by elites to enslave us. What word legal mean than putting it under king jurisdiction by writing it in his book of permissions called laws. Of course, I'm saying it in simple way, but that is what it is.

Thank you for sharing, really interesting, especially since I will be a doctor in a few months ;)
But I also think that it should be legalised - at least for medical purposes!

I am very proud of a lot of the work I did in ophthalmology. I am ashamed that for my entire career I just smiled and remained silent as people took prescription drugs for glaucoma that were more dangerous and less effective than marijuana.

Cannabis should be legalized for all purposes.

The opioid epidemic is directly related to big pharma having their hands in the US government's pockets by lobbying, gifts, campaign donations, etc.

This is the only reason why it is still federally illegal, because the politicians have too much to lose.

Legalize.jpg

I support this movement.

Many a times i do skew through the internet looking for the disadvantages of Cannabis but could not really find something meaningful, thus i wonder why it is not legalized in most countries, i also reason why black mamba a synthetic cannabis tetra hydrocannabinol is a legal drug in the UK and marijuana is still illegal.......if i become the president of the world, i will share free cannabis to everyone every day.....if you love it please support my dreams.

We need medical marijuana everywhere!

Here in Argentina politics cheat people with legalization but, they only do it for the votes, really sad. But we still work, please check my post if you like! https://steemit.com/health/@elbreeder/video-skin-cancer-homemade-treatment-working-in-3-weeks

So switching from one illicit drug to another one?

People are still addicted; just the method is changed!

Does it really helps living a quality life?

We should concentrate on the question "why addiction is coming in the first place?

Weed should be legal everywhere. Period. As long as alcohol is legal, weed should be as well - not to mention many health benefits for many people, but it's not really such a bad drug to be illegal and condemned as it is in our current society, even though so many people smoke anyway. Just stupid, some countries need to step up their game in this case.