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The research was published online August 25 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
"Striking" Implication
Dr. Marcus Bachhuber
The "striking" implication of the study "is that medical marijuana laws, when implemented, may represent a promising approach for stemming runaway rates of nonintentional opioid analgesic-related deaths," commented Marie J. Hayes, PhD, and Mark S. Brown, MD, Pediatrics and Neonatal Medicine, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, Maine, in an accompanying editorial.
"If true, this finding upsets the applecart of conventional wisdom regarding the public health implications of marijuana legalization and medicinal usefulness."
For this study, the researchers abstracted data on opioid analgesic overdose mortality rates in each state from 1999 to 2010 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three states (California, Oregon, and Washington) had medical cannabis laws before 1999, and 10 (Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont) introduced such laws between 1999 and 2010.
Overall, the incidence of opioid analgesic-related mortality in these 13 states increased dramatically from 1999 to 2010. In a model adjusted for state and year, states with medical cannabis laws had a mean 24.8% lower annual rate of opioid analgesic overdose deaths (95% confidence interval [CI], –37.5% to –9.5%; P = .003) compared with states without laws.
According to the authors, this translates to about 1729 fewer deaths than expected in 2010. This association was strengthened over the period of the study, from –19.9% in year 1 to –33.3% by year 6.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/830417
"Striking" Implication
Dr. Marcus Bachhuber
The "striking" implication of the study "is that medical marijuana laws, when implemented, may represent a promising approach for stemming runaway rates of nonintentional opioid analgesic-related deaths," commented Marie J. Hayes, PhD, and Mark S. Brown, MD, Pediatrics and Neonatal Medicine, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, Maine, in an accompanying editorial.
"If true, this finding upsets the applecart of conventional wisdom regarding the public health implications of marijuana legalization and medicinal usefulness."
For this study, the researchers abstracted data on opioid analgesic overdose mortality rates in each state from 1999 to 2010 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three states (California, Oregon, and Washington) had medical cannabis laws before 1999, and 10 (Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont) introduced such laws between 1999 and 2010.
Overall, the incidence of opioid analgesic-related mortality in these 13 states increased dramatically from 1999 to 2010. In a model adjusted for state and year, states with medical cannabis laws had a mean 24.8% lower annual rate of opioid analgesic overdose deaths (95% confidence interval [CI], –37.5% to –9.5%; P = .003) compared with states without laws.
According to the authors, this translates to about 1729 fewer deaths than expected in 2010. This association was strengthened over the period of the study, from –19.9% in year 1 to –33.3% by year 6.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/830417