Medical marijuana could save many addicted to opioids

There was a recent post on CNN from Dr. Sanjay Gupta to the Honorable Jeff Sessions in regards to the unmistakeble benefits of medical marijuana as a superior way to help treat those addicted to opiates.

Many of you may already know that Dr. Gupta was initially not a fan of medical marijuan however, after spending 5 years diving into reseach and meeting with thousands of patients he is now an advicate for the use of medical marijuana. There was no dening for him the facts that marijuana can work for a variety of conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and pain, sometimes, it is the only thing that works.

Dr.Sanjay is writing this because of the opiate crisis that faces the us. It is estimated that 45,000 deaths are realted to opiate abuse. In Canada we are also facing an opiate abuse epidemic that we have never seen the likes of before. It is estimated the approximately 4 thousand deaths were related to opiate abuse in 2017 and is exspected rise this year.

Dr. Sanjay's letter goes on to say that the research from the Rand Corp., supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, conducted "the most detailed examination of medical marijuana and opioid deaths to date" and found something few initially expected. The analysis showed an approximately 20% decline in opioid overdose deaths between 1999 and 2010 in states with legalized medical marijuana and functioning dispensaries. It is believed that nearly 10,000 lives ayear can be saved by switching to medical marijuana treatments. The time for debate is over it is time for change. How many more people needlessly have to suffer and die before things change.

Essentially Dr.Gupta said that if the medical community had to start from scratch to come up with a medicine that could help to relieve the pain and withdrawl symptoms that exists that that medicine would look a lot like cannabis.

The letter goes on to talk about how the mounting evedence can be found on the benefits of medical marijuana. He said " The consensus is clear: Cannabis can effectively treat pain. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine arrived at this conclusion last year after what it described as the "most comprehensive studies of recent research" on the health effects of cannabis.

We here believe that Dr. Gupta nailed it on the head. To view his full letter you can do so here