Legalization of Marijuana in Several States Lead to an 8% Drop in Opioid-Related ER Visits

A study conducted by the University of Pittsburg found a significant drop in opioid-related ER visits after many states legalized Marijuana.

The University studied the data of emergency visits in 29 states between the years 2011 through 2017. Four states in the study passed the use of recreational marijuana during that period. The highly regarded educational institution compared the data of those states with the others.

They discovered an overall 7.9% decline in opioid-related emergency room visits within six months after the legalization passed in each state. After six months, the rate in most of these states went back up to average percentages.

“This isn’t trivial – a decline in opioid-related emergency department visits, even if only for six months, is a welcome public health development,” reportedly said Dr. Coleman Drake, lead author of the study and assistant professor in Pitt Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management. 

“But that being said, while cannabis liberalization may offer some help in curbing the opioid epidemic, it’s likely not a panacea [solution].”

There were doubts that the legalization of marijuana would be a “gateway” to the use of other drugs. The study finds that this is not the case. Some opioid users are turning to marijuana use instead.

“We can’t definitively conclude from the data why these laws are associated with a temporary downturn in opioid-related emergency department visits but, based on our findings and previous literature, we suspect that people who use opioids for pain relief are substituting with cannabis, at least temporarily,” Drake reportedly said.