Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues
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Two new studies find that opioid prescriptions and daily doses decline in legal marijuana states, the Swiss are on the verge of a legal marijuana sales pilot program, and more.
Southern California's Coachella music festival will have to allow marijuana, a state judge has ruled. (Flickr/Feverblue)
After States Legalize Weed, Opioid Prescriptions Decline, Studies Find. Two papers published Monday in the JAMA Internal Medicine that analyzed more than five years of Medicare Part D and Medicaid prescription data found that the number of opioid prescription and the daily dose of opioids declined after states legalized marijuana. "In this time when we are so concerned -- rightly so -- about opiate misuse and abuse and the mortality that's occurring, we need to be clear-eyed and use evidence to drive our policies," said W. David Bradford, an economist at the University of Georgia and an author of one of the studies. "If you're interested in giving people options for pain management that don't bring the particular risks that opiates do, states should contemplate turning on dispensary-based cannabis policies."
Medical Marijuana
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