Medicare Spending Drops $162 Million In Medical Marijuana States
July 11, 2016
Why would pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars to lobby against legalized medicinal and recreational marijuana legislation? Profits.
A recent study published in the medical journal Health Affairs definitively shows that in states where medical cannabis is legal there are significant decreases in spending on FDA-approved treatments.
When we take a closer look at prescription pill patterns with Medicare patients across all medical marijuana states, the researchers found a 6 percent decrease in purchases for prescription narcotic pain medications like OxyContin and a 5 percent decline of anti-anxiety medication sales. The study also noted a 5 percent drop in medications used to treat seizures, sleep disorders and psychosis.
Last year a $165.2 million decrease in Medicare spending was experienced in the medical marijuana states while non medical marijuana states noticed spending increases. The cost savings are great, but ultimately the study proved that cannabis can be the cure to our nation’s opioid epidemic.
The University of Michigan released a study in 2016 that found that patients that consume medical marijuana for their chronic pain reported a 64 percent drop in overall 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,” stated lead author Dr. Daniel Clauw, a professor of pain-management anesthesiology at the U-M Medical School.
READ FULL STUDY HERE >>
Thanks to: http://marijuanapatients.org
July 11, 2016
Why would pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars to lobby against legalized medicinal and recreational marijuana legislation? Profits.
A recent study published in the medical journal Health Affairs definitively shows that in states where medical cannabis is legal there are significant decreases in spending on FDA-approved treatments.
When we take a closer look at prescription pill patterns with Medicare patients across all medical marijuana states, the researchers found a 6 percent decrease in purchases for prescription narcotic pain medications like OxyContin and a 5 percent decline of anti-anxiety medication sales. The study also noted a 5 percent drop in medications used to treat seizures, sleep disorders and psychosis.
Last year a $165.2 million decrease in Medicare spending was experienced in the medical marijuana states while non medical marijuana states noticed spending increases. The cost savings are great, but ultimately the study proved that cannabis can be the cure to our nation’s opioid epidemic.
The University of Michigan released a study in 2016 that found that patients that consume medical marijuana for their chronic pain reported a 64 percent drop in overall 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,” stated lead author Dr. Daniel Clauw, a professor of pain-management anesthesiology at the U-M Medical School.
READ FULL STUDY HERE >>
Thanks to: http://marijuanapatients.org