Medical marijuana and fewer deaths have been linked by a new study that claims the former actually leads to the latter. The big question now though is if this new finding would be enough to push the legalization of medical marijuana throughout the entire country.
According to WWLP, a new research has found that medical marijuana and fewer deaths have a strong connection. The study which was published on the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that upon reviewing all data collected between 1999 and 2010, medical marijuana laws have actually resulted to fewer death certificate data.
States that implement the legal use of medical marijuana are said to have nearly 25 percent fewer deaths than those who don't.
A substantial decrease in painkiller deaths has also been associated to the length of time a medical marijuana law was in effect.
VOX.com noted that the number of deaths from opioid painkillers documented saw a drastic decrease compared to states that do not allow medical marijuana.
"Just like the opiate problem here in town that's what these prescription pain meds are and it leads into these heroin addictions and that's a horrible problem around here where cannabis is natural its grown," Sarah Davis of Greenfield who firmly believed that western Massachusetts need medical weed said.
Proponents of the study say that when pot is used for medicinal purposes, patients suffering from pain can use this to ease their suffering instead of using more addictive and deadlier opioid-based painkillers that are seen to be the leading cause of more deaths across the country since 1999.
Unfortunately, the study that connected medicinal marijuana and fewer deaths only looked at correlation and not causation, which makes other scientists hesitant in accepting it as a fact.
One of the reasons why others are still critical in accepting the findings of the study is the possibility that there could be other factors that may have affected the plateau of mortality data in states where medical marijuana is legal.
"I know many doctors struggle with the issue of who would be best to treat medical marijuana. There are some doctors who say that there is no valid medical use," study author Dr. Marcus Bachhuber of the Philadelphia VA Medical Center said. "I think that leaves a tremendous opportunity for future studies to help guide use to look at the risk and benefits and in clinical practice."
Researchers have recognized that there is still a need to conduct further analysis and research on the relationship between medical marijuana and fewer deaths, reported TIME.
Moreover, they also agree that further understanding why people choose medical marijuana over opioid-based painkillers is the key to the validation of the study's new findings.
