How Cannabis Helps to Fight Back Against Opioid Addiction

One of the more serious problems in the United States is related to drug overdose deaths. Did you know that, recently the United States hit a new record high of more than 96,000 deaths related to drug overdose in a 12 month period. You would think that, in a society that continues to expand and advance in the medical and health industry, we would have more success in finding ways to prevent such deaths. 

The truth is that these deaths are preventable, and that makes them all the more sad. One of the most successful and effective alternatives to using opioids and other strong prescription drugs is medical marijuana. In fact, part of the reason that states have gone to such lengths to legalize medical marijuana programs has to do with reducing the amount of opioid deaths in the country.

The more we continue to learn about opioids, the more we realize that they are not that effective for a lot of people, and that they can often lead down dark roads of addiction and other problems. Did you know that prescription opioid medications are one of the leading causes of overdose deaths in the United States? Honestly, we should be doing better as a nation at this point. If you are someone who has relied on opioids to deal with various conditions or chronic pain, you may want to consider using medical marijuana. Today in this article I wanted to take some time to write about using medical marijuana instead of other dangerous prescriptions and why you should be doing that.

So what’s so bad about prescription opioids? Afterall, doctors would not prescribe them to patients if they could be so harmful, right? Well, that’s not really the case. We need to remember that, as an American people, pharmaceutical companies are not going to care about our actual health. They are simply interested in taking our money. One of the reasons that opioids are potentially high risk for patients is because they become less effective for pain relief over time. 

In fact, in some cases, patients reported that opioid medications can actually increase levels of pain if not prescribed properly. This is because the body fights back against the opioids ability to numb pain receptors. It does this by increasing the amount of pain that is sent to those same receptors, meaning that just continues to get worse. Then the patient has to use more and more of the same opioid in order to feel the same level of relief. 

Can you see how this might lead to addiction and overdose? It is pretty clear in my opinion. Marijuana works differently. Cannabis has been used for decades now to treat a variety of conditions, ranging from anxiety to chronic pain. While we do not know all there is to know about how cannabis relieves pain, we do know that it does it quite well. 

Otherwise, why would millions of medical marijuana patients in the United States be using cannabis to treat their health conditions? In fact, as the marijuana industry in our country continues to evolve and become more clinically proven, growers and cultivators will be able to produce strains that are unique for dealing with symptoms of pain. In fact, certain strains of cannabis are already notoriously used for treating pain in specific conditions. So if you are someone that has a condition that causes a lot of pain, I heavily suggest looking into using medical marijuana if it is legal in your state. Even if you end up not choosing to use it in the long run, at least you have another option to try instead of turning straight to something like an opioid.