Medical marijuana legalization is “associated with significant reductions in opioid prescribing,” yet another new study has found.
Researchers at the University of Georgia and University of Colorado analyzed prescription claims for 15 to 20 million insured Americans annually from 2007-2020, comparing the prevalence of opioid prescriptions in states with and without medical cannabis programs in place.
“We find that [medical cannabis laws, or MCLs] are associated with significant reductions in opioid prescribing,” the study, published in the American Journal of Health Economics, found. “Among treated states, the rate of patients receiving opioid prescriptions fell by 16% on average, masking substantial heterogeneity across states, with individual state declines reaching 22%.”
“We also find significant decreases in the intensive margin, both in the daily supply and prescriptions per patient,” the researchers said. “Among subpopulations, decreases were relatively uniform across sex, age, and race/ethnicity, though cancer patients, and non-cancer Black patients experienced a larger reduction (over 20%).”
The study also identified increases in the frequency of use of NSAID pain medications, “suggesting that MCLs are associated with substitution away from opioids toward safer alternatives.”
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