The Grass is Greener? Doctors Prescribe Less Pain Medication in Medical Marijuana States, Study Shows

According to a new study, legalizing medical marijuana substantially reduces the amount of medication doctors prescribe.

Oh, and it also saved millions; reducing Medicare costs by $165.2 million in 2013 alone.

The study, performed by researchers at the University of Georgia, shows states saw fewer prescriptions for pharmaceutical drugs when marijuana is a potential treatment.

Researchers found the greatest reduction in terms of overall quantity was in regards to pain medication where the annual average dose per physician was 31,810 doses in states without medical marijuana, but 28,166 in states with. Other applicable categories such as anxiety, depression, nausea, psychosis, and sleep disorders medications also saw a reduction by between 8% and 13% in the 17 states.

The Case for Medical Marijuana Over Pain Killers

It’s no secret that pain killers, even when prescribed by a physician, are extremely dangerous. Even though the opioid abuse epidemic has pushed its way into the public conscious with the death of celebrities such as Prince, the numbers show that it is an issue affecting people from almost all walks of life. From 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people have died from overdoses involving prescription drugs, the most common being Methadone, Oxycodone (such as OxyContin), Hydrocodone (such as Vicodin).

Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 25 states, but at the time of the study, there were only 17, meaning that the amount of savings could be even greater. The study estimated that if this pattern were reflected across the entire United States, it would save Medicare roughly $458 million in spending.

Despite the growing body of evidence that marijuana has a number of effective medical applications, marijuana is considered a schedule 1 substance by the DEA. A schedule 1 substance is defined as drugs, substances, or chemicals, “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” putting it in the same category as heroin, LSD, ecstasy, Quaaludes, and peyote. This categorization also prevents it from being easily studied as a clinical drug.

Moreover, even in states like California where medical marijuana is legal under the Compassionate Use Act of California (HS 11362.5), the classification as a schedule 1 drug can make it can easily be confused by law enforcement and turn into charges for possession with intent to sell. It also deters organizations, such as the NFL, from letting players turn to marijuana as a form of pain killer, while they simultaneously prescribe pain killers to players by the hundreds.

Medical marijuana fights an uphill battle in the face of overwhelming evidence in a large part due to the fact that its success goes against the bottom line of certain competing companies and organizations, such as the pharmaceutical companies who produce pain killers. Purdue Pharma (the maker of OxyContin) and Abbott Laboratories (maker of Vicodin), were some of the largest donors lobbying against marijuana. Along with pushes from Big Tobacco and police departments, there has been a strong movement to undermine the use of marijuana as a medical treatment.

While it may seem that a drug which has the ability to alleviate pain and reduce Medicare costs without killing thousands of Americans a year is a no brainer, through careful lobbying efforts and public distrust, medical marijuana is still illegal in half of U.S. states. Nevertheless, as research about the positive effects moves forward, the case for medical marijuana over pain killers will soon become to strong to ignore.