Study: Medical marijuana use reduces Medicare spending on prescription drugs

Major pharmaceutical companies spent billions lobbying against legislative efforts to legalize medicinal and recreational marijuana in certain U.S. states. For many marijuana advocates, it was pretty clear why. Now, with medical marijuana laws on the books in several states, research is providing proof of Big Pharma’s incentive to keep pot on the list of illicit substances.

A study published last week in the journal Health Affairs shows that states where marijuana is now a treatment option for patients with a wide-range of health maladies are experiencing significant decreases in spending on FDA-approved treatments.

Looking at prescription patterns for Medicare patients in medical marijuana states, researchers noted a 6 percent decrease in demand for prescription medications used to treat pain— including powerful narcotics like OxyContin—and a 5 percent decrease in the use of anti-anxiety medications. They also documented a nearly 5 percent decrease in the use of medications used to treat seizures, sleep disorders and psychosis.

The drop in prescription drug use resulted in a $165.2 million decrease in Medicare spending in the medical marijuana states.

The study backs up previous research that shows medical marijuana reform may be part of the answer to the nation’s ongoing opioid epidemic

In a study out earlier this year from the University of Michigan, researchers found that patients using medical marijuana to control chronic pain reported a 64 percent reduction in use of opioid-based pain medications.

“We are learning that the higher the dose of opioids people are taking, the higher the risk of death from overdose. This magnitude of reduction in our study is significant enough to affect an individual’s risk of accidental death from overdose,” said study senior author Dr. Daniel Clauw, professor of pain management anesthesiology at the U-M Medical School.

The post Study: Medical marijuana use reduces Medicare spending on prescription drugs appeared first on Personal Liberty®.

from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/07/11/study-medical-marijuana-use-reduces-medicare-spending-on-prescription-drugs/

from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2016/07/10/study-medical-marijuana-use-reduces-medicare-spending-on-prescription-drugs/