Can Medical Marijuana Legalization Decrease Prescription Opioid Problems?

Some preliminary studies have suggested that medical marijuana legalization might be associated with decreased prescription opioid use and overdose deaths, but researchers don’t have enough evidence yet to confirm this finding. For example, one NIDA-funded study suggested a link between medical marijuana legalization and fewer overdose deaths from prescription opioids.¹ But this study didn’t show that medical marijuana legalization caused the decrease in deaths or that pain patients changed their drug-taking behavior.^2,3 A more detailed NIDA-funded analysis showed that legally protected medical marijuana dispensaries, not just medical marijuana laws, were also associated with a decrease in the following:⁴

• opioid prescribing
• self-reports of opioid misuse
• treatment admissions for opioid addiction

Additionally, data suggests that medical marijuana treatment may reduce the opioid dose prescribed for pain patients,^5,6 and a recent study showed that availability of medical marijuana for Medicare patients reduced prescribing of medications, including opioids, for their pain.⁷ NIDA is funding additional studies to determine the link between medical marijuana use and the use or misuse of opioids for pain. Read more in our Marijuana Research Report.