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Posted By: norml@weedconnection.com
media :: news - Tue, 05 Apr 2016 04:20:21 PST
Medical Cannabis Access Decreases Opioid Use In Chronic Pain Patients
Ann Arbor, MI: Chronic pain patients with legal access to medicinal cannabis significantly decrease their use of opioids, according to data published online ahead of print in The Journal of Pain.
Investigators at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor conducted a retrospective survey of 244 chronic pain patients. All of the subjects in the survey were qualified under Michigan law to consume medicinal cannabis and frequented an area dispensary to obtain it.
Authors reported that respondents often substituted cannabis for opiates and that many rated marijuana to be more effective.
"Among study participants, medical cannabis use was associated with a 64 percent decrease in opioid use, decreased number and side effects of medications, and an improved quality of life," they concluded. "This study suggests that many chronic pain patients are essentially substituting medical cannabis for opioids and other medications for chronic pain treatment, and finding the benefit and side effect profile of cannabis to be greater than these other classes of medications."
About 40 people die daily from opioid overdoses, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.
Long-term daily use of herbal cannabis has been shown to mitigate analgesia and significantly reduce opioid use in chronic pain patients unresponsive to conventional therapies. Observational studies also show lower levels of opioid-related abuse and mortality in jurisdictions where patients are permitted medical cannabis access.
Full text of the study, "Medical cannabis associated with decreased opiate medication use in retrospective cross-sectional survey of chronic pain patients," appears in The Journal of Pain.
AP Poll: Over Six In Ten Americans Support Legal Marijuana Use
Chicago, IL: Over six in ten American adults believe that "the use of marijuana should be made legal," according to nationwide polling data provided by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. By contrast, only seven percent of respondents supported the legalization of other illicit substances, such as cocaine.
Of those respondents who supported legalizing marijuana, 43 percent endorsed imposing regulations with regard to how the substance is sold. Thirty-three percent opposed any regulation of the plant, and 24 percent said that it should be legal, but only for medicinal purposes.
Support for amending marijuana prohibition was highest among younger adults (those age 18 to 29) and Democrats.
The AP poll possesses a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percent.
Florida: Law Authorizes Medical Marijuana Access To Terminally Ill
Tallahassee, FL: Republican Gov. Rick Scott has signed legislation into law permitting the use of medicinal cannabis to terminally ill patients.
House Bill 307 expands the state's so-called 'Right to Try Act' - legislation that permits terminally ill patients to experiment with non-FDA approved remedies - to include the use of medicinal cannabis. Under the new law, which took immediate effect, patients diagnosed with no more than 12 months to live are eligible to access both low-THC and high-THC strains of cannabis.
The measure also seeks to expand a 2014 law intended to provide low-THC varieties of cannabis to patients with pediatric epilepsy, chronic muscle spasms, or cancer. However, this law is not yet operational.
This November, Florida voters will decide on Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment to permit the physician-authorized use and state-licensed distribution of cannabis for therapeutic purposes. According to Public Policy Polling data released earlier this month, 65 percent of voters endorse the plan and only 28 percent oppose it.
Michigan: Majority Of Voters Want Marijuana Regulated
Lansing, MI: A majority of Michigan voters support changing state law so that the use and cultivation of marijuana by adults is legal, according to polling data provided by the Lansing polling firm EPIC-MRA and commissioned by Michigan NORML.
Fifty-three percent of respondents said they would vote 'yes' on a ballot proposal to regulate and tax retail marijuana sales. Forty-five percent of those polled rejected the notion of legalizing marijuana.
The results show an increase in voter support of three percent since pollsters last posed the question in December 2014.
Proponents of MI Legalize are seeking to gather sufficient signatures to place a statewide measure on the November ballot to regulate and tax the production and retail sale of cannabis.
For more information, please visit: minorml.org or milegalize.org
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