Low Opioid Prescription Might Lower Chances Of Opioid Epidemic In Future

Now, the medical professionals in the US have almost dramatically reduced the rate of prescribing opioid drugs even though it is the region where medical and recreational marijuana is legal. The researchers reported that the accessibility to recreational cannabis in the US was in a way connected with an 11.8% dip in the everyday sales of opioid prescriptions and 4.2% for medical marijuana. The legalization of medical and recreational marijuana has made the accessibility to the opioid drugs all the more easy for the people despite the stringent recreational weed laws being made effective. Such specialized drugs are basically used for extreme pain and other conditions.

The stringent laws seem to have lowered the number of getting them and also the regular availability of the opioid drug. In order to lower the chronic pain faced by many in cases of cancer, Crohn’s disease, and others, opioid drugs can be used. And the most disturbing discovery was that the family physicians prescribed more opioids when compared with any other healthcare specialties. The 2011–2018 reports showed 1.5 Billion using opioid drugs and 90% of them are being used on a regular basis. The recent opioid overdose epidemic in the US has alerted the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as almost 130 Americans lost their lives. The cannabis access laws could help lower the sale of prescribed opioids and in turn, hinder any future epidemic. The various laws and trade norms are being enacted to limit access to opioids. The people using opioid drugs if told to discontinue the drug could switch to dangerous drugs like heroin.

Similarly, to tackle the opioid epidemic in the US, a specific group of researchers has found a new form of cannabis to help lower the psychotic effect and it is cannabidiol (CBD), which is a non-psychoactive chemical in marijuana. The heroin users could ease their anxiety and cravings using CBD. The level of stress, increased heart rate, and escalating levels of stress hormone cortisol could all be lowered. In short, this new product could help curb the opioid crisis that has spread across the entire US.