Senator Elizabeth Warren is taking a unique to combating the growing opioid problem in Massachusetts by urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the use of marijuana as a painkiller.
Her plea came in a formal letter to CDC director Thomas Friedan. Although Warren supported the efforts that the CDC has made to curb opioid addiction so far, she argued that marijuana could not only be used as an alternative painkiller, but that the plant itself could help treat opioid addiction. She also called for the CDC and other national health agencies to look at the rising use of fentanyl and the long-term effects of opioid use in children, as well as for the CDC to finalize their guidelines for prescribing opioids to treat chronic pain.
The basis of Warren’s request has been supported by numerous studies. A study out of Canada, published last year in the journal Pain, found that marijuana is safe to use in treating chronic pain. The researchers that even after one year of treatment, the medical marijuana patients in the study did not exhibit any serious side effects. Only a few reported “non-serious” side effects such as dizziness and coughing. That same year, an analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that marijuana is both safe and effective for treating chronic pain. The study concluded that marijuana users showed 30% greater improvement in their pain compared to those given a placebo.
In addition, medical marijuana users are also less likely to take other painkillers or drink alcohol. Findings published last September in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review showed that 52 percent of medical marijuana users drank less when smoking, and 80% used cannabis instead of painkillers to manage pain. The substitution of painkillers for pot could also explain why legal medical marijuana states have lower rates of opioid overdose deaths. The National Bureau of Economic Research noted last year the mere presence of marijuana dispensaries sparked a 15-35% drop in both opiate overdose deaths and substance abuse admissions.
An August 2014 research project published in JAMA also had similar findings, noting that “states with medical marijuana laws on the books saw 24.8% fewer deaths from painkiller overdoses compared to states that didn’t have such laws.”
