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A landmark study helps explain why Big Pharma is so afraid of the medical benefits of cannabis. The pharmaceutical and alcohol industries, both powerful influences in Washington, have long lobbied against cannabis legalization in order to protect their profits.
The recent study is lending credibility to the idea that medical cannabis can be used as a natural alternative to prescription pain medications, with nearly 100 percent of respondents saying they believe cannabis is helping them decrease their use of prescription opioids to treat the pain.
The study, which was conducted by HelloMD, one of the largest medical cannabis communities in the nation, and University of California Berkley, surveyed nearly 3,000 patients who use both opioid and non-opioid based pain medication.
The results of the study concluded that 97 percent of respondents “strongly agreed/agreed” that they could decrease use of their opioid medications when using cannabis. While 92 percent of respondents said that they “strongly agreed/agreed” that they prefer cannabis to treat their medical condition.
The study also found that 81 percent of respondents said they “strongly agreed/ agreed” that using cannabis alone was more effective than taking cannabis with opioids.
Use of cannabis as a substitute/in conjunction with opioid-based pain medication (PRNewsfoto/HelloMD)While cannabis is only legalized for medicinal use in 26 states and the District of Columbia, 93 percent of respondents said they “strongly agreed/agreed” that they would use cannabis as a substitute for their current prescription medication if it was available.
Dr. Perry Solomon, Chief Medical Officer of HelloMD, referenced a recent publication from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine on “The Health Effect of Cannabis and Cannabinoids,” and noted that this study serves as a way to support the theory that cannabis is the opposite of a gateway drug.
“The latest publication from the National Academy of Sciences clearly refuted the ‘gateway drug’ theory that using marijuana can lead to opioid addiction, instead finding evidence of cannabis having multiple curative benefits,” Dr. Solomon said. “Our study further substantiates this. Hopefully this will awaken the public, medical professionals and legislatures to the fact that cannabis is a safe, non-addictive product, available to help fight the opioid epidemic.”
Amanda Reiman, a professor at UC Berkley who helped lead the study, said the treatment of pain has become a “politicized business” in the United States that has resulted in “the rapidly rising rate of opioid related overdoses and dependence.”
“Cannabis has been used throughout the world for thousands of years to treat pain and other physical and mental health conditions,” Reiman said. “Patients have been telling us for decades that this practice is producing better outcomes than the use of opioid based medications. It’s past time for the medical profession to get over their reefer madness and start working with the medical cannabis movement and industry to slow down the destruction being caused by the over prescribing and overuse of opioids.”
As The Free Thought Project has reported, despite the fact that cannabis has been proven to help with a number of things from killing cancer cells to treating rare and fatal conditions, it is still classified among the deadliest drugs that are supposed to have no medicinal value in the United States.
While studies such as the latest one from HelloMD and UC Berkley serve as a reminder that for many patients, cannabis is the ideal alternative to opioid medications, there is still a clear reason why cannabis has yet to be legalized in the U.S. If medical cannabis was legalized in all 50 states, it would take at least $4.5 billion away from the stranglehold that has been established by big pharma.
By Rachel Blevins
Rachel Blevins is a Texas-based journalist who aspires to break the left/right paradigm in media and politics by pursuing truth and questioning existing narratives. This article first appeared here at The Free Thought Project.
Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/medical-cannabis-patients-rx-meds/
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I am a 56 y/o grandma that never touched pot. I grew up in a time where local police came to your school and showed you the video of bad drugs and how they would make you jump off bridges or buildings. This, of,course, included marijuana. I shunned marijuana and all who used it and believed my government knew what was best for me. I thought all who smoked were evil and less intelligent then myself.
However my opinion changed when my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and his compassionate physician recommended marijuana as a tool to help him.
I saw my dad improve his appetite, manage pain and stabilize his mood. These were milestones in extending his life for obvious reasons and I was well and truly convinced that the pot was solely responsible for this blessing. I began, in that moment, to realize that maybe pot wasn’t the evil it was purported to be.
About 5 yrs ago, I myself became very I’ll and was promptly treated with pain pills, muscle relaxants, neuropathy meds., Morphine, Serotonin pills for chronic migraines , Botox injections, antinausea pills, surgeries, injections, nerve ablations, cervical discogram, etc.,etc….
Until one day that I missed an appointment with my pain doctor and couldn’t secure another appointment for some weeks. So my daughter, greatly pained at witnessing my misery, pleaded with me to “Just try it…please…” It being pot . So I fought my instinct to not try it and then remembered my father’s success and I acguiesed.
From day one, I stopped all meds, surgeries, procedures and doctors visits with no I’ll effects. I am 9 months free. Happier,healthier and with way more money in my pocket.
Pot never was the problem. Trusting my government’s position and practices were the problem for me, at least in this instance. I don’t suppose marijuana to be the cure of all, but my fervent hope is that those reading this will consider its potential and disregard our government’s opinion on it being a schedule 1 drug deemed to have no medical benefits. Personally, my belief is that we were all lied to about it’s benefits because, as I have demonstrated, it can eliminate alot of industries, protected heavily , by the way, with strong lobbying against it. Peace to all.
I agree 100% that marijuana helps people get off opioids. I have witnessed seeing it happen. Unfortunately, I live in Alabama where almost everything is illegal. I just don’t understand why people here in Alabama, especially the Baptist denomination citizens, thinks its ok to take pills, but God forbid should Medical Marijuana ever get legalized. It is so easy to get addicted to pills and some people have no other choice but to take medications prescribed by there Dr’s. If people would get the old way of thinking about Marijuana out of there head and now SEE how helpful Marijuana can be then I know there would be a change of heart. Until everyone demands there rights for freedom to choose what they put into there bodies, then no change should be expected. We the People use to have a meaning to it.
The two things that really helped me I am not allowed to do. Even though in Ca. supposedly it should be O.K. for me to consume cannabis, I have been told by my doctor that if I ever test positive for it they will refuse to ever see me again, and no other doctor in my community would ever see me again. I never really smoked it, but ate it. Also aqupuncture really helped years ago, but since I cannot work anymore I cannot afford that… for awhile ins. did help with that and cut my meds in half. Cannabis also cut my meds in half.
Linda, I would not take that from any doctor in CA. I would imagine at this point that discrimination by a doctor in the form of refusal of care for cannabis use is not at all legal here anymore. My pain doc is fully supportive here in SoCal, as are all the docs and nurses.
With me I can say That the canapice is not Good for my body and my voice so I stop smoking wiz sence 1month ago
There are many ways we can consume cannabis besides smoking it.
Is this due to the THC and/or the CBD?