A new study has revealed that deaths caused by opioid overdose in the USA go down directly after the legalisation of recreational cannabis. The study also showed that states which changed their cannabis legislation earlier experienced an even greater decrease in deaths than others that did so once the opioid epidemic had gained momentum.
The authors, from several universities across the USA and the think tank American Institute for Economic Research, wished to examine how much of an effect cannabis has had on overdose deaths. The study, titled “Because I Got High?”, was published to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) in December last year and found that cannabis legalisation was “associated with a decrease of approximately 3.5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.”
“Although the causal effects of marijuana legalization on opioid mortality rates is a well-examined topic, there is no general consensus on the direction and magnitude of its effects,” the authors wrote.
“We examined the relationship between RML [recreational marijuana legalisation] and opioid overdose deaths to understand this complex relationship better and provide insight for future health policy making,” they continued.
Since 1999 North America has been in an opioid epidemic, with approximately 600,000 people dying from overdose and other causes relating to opioid drugs. As many as 1.2 million are expected to die from opioid overdose by 2029.
Opioid addiction is more prevalent in rural, working-class communities where access to healthcare is less accessible, and workplace injuries mean many self-medicate with painkillers, which often leads to addiction.
The fact that cannabis helps people who are addicted to opioids is well documented, however, researchers employed a new “difference-in-difference” method of analysis known as the “C&S approach” to reveal exactly how quickly and to what extent the use of cannabis has diminished the number of deaths from opioid overdose.
The research team found that “legalisation led to an immediate decline in opioid overdose death rates, which grew even stronger and persisted after five years” in states where cannabis legalisation was implemented early.
“Groups that implemented RML in later years do not have as much post-treatment data, but their short-term trends are consistent with the effects in the first group of states.”
“For later groups,” they continued, “RML was particularly effective three years after it went into effect, corroborating prior observations that there may be a lag time between the time of policy implementation and the action opening of recreational marijuana dispensaries,” the study says.
The team concluded that more states should legalise cannabis and use it as a tool to combat the opioid epidemic. However, they stress that further research needs to be done over time to provide more accurate data.
“Our findings suggest that broadening recreational marijuana access could help address the opioid epidemic. Previous research largely indicates that marijuana (primarily for medical use) can reduce opioid prescriptions, and we find it may also successfully reduce overdose deaths. States [should] continue to implement RML and consider introducing legislation to grant those with opioid use disorder greater access to marijuana as a substitute, and our findings strongly suggest RML could help address opioid-related public health concerns.”
“Further, while many of our empirical findings are consistent and statistically significant, RML as a state-level policy began only 11 years ago, with many states implementing it in the last few years. This limits our ability to assess longer-term effects on opioid overdose deaths and related variables.”
