Posted by Vicki at FC:



http://norml.org/news/2012/08/02/increas...addictive-drugs

Increased Access To Therapeutic Cannabis Likely To Reduce Patients' Use Of Opiates, Other Addictive Drugs

Thursday, 02 August 2012



Victoria, British Columbia: Regulating cannabis access would provide patients with an effective treatment for chronic pain and likely reduce morbidity associated with the use of prescription opiates and other pharmaceuticals, according to a review (link: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02791072.2012.684624) published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

A researcher with the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia reports that cannabis may be useful in the treatment of chronic pain as well as certain substance abuse disorders, and that it poses fewer risks to health than many conventional alternatives.

He writes: "When used in conjunction with opiates, cannabinoids lead to a greater cumulative relief of pain, resulting in a reduction in the use of opiates (and associated side-effects) by patients in a clinical setting. Additionally, cannabinoids can prevent the development of tolerance to and withdrawal from opiates, and can even rekindle opiate analgesia after a prior dosage has become ineffective. Novel research suggests that cannabis may be useful in the treatment of problematic substance use. These findings suggest that increasing safe access to medical cannabis may reduce the personal and social harms associated with addiction, particularly in relation to the growing problematic use of pharmaceutical opiates."

The author continues: "Since both the potential harms of pharmaceutical opiates and the relative safety of cannabis are well established, research on substitution effect suggests that cannabis may be effective in reducing the use and dependence of other substances of abuse such as illicit opiates, stimulants and alcohol. As such, there is reason to believe that a strategy aiming to maximize the therapeutic potential benefits of both cannabis and pharmaceutical cannabinoids by expanding their availability and use could potentially lead to a reduction in the prescription use of opiates, as well as other potentially dangerous pharmaceutical analgesics, licit and illicit substances, and thus a reduction in associated harms."

The author concludes, "Despite a lack of regulatory oversight by federal governments in North America, community-based medical cannabis dispensaries have proven successful at supplying patients with a safe source of cannabis within an environment conducive to healing, and may be reducing the problematic use of pharmaceutical opiates and other potentially harmful substances in their communities."

Between the years 1999 and 2007, over 65,000 people died (link: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6101a3.htm) from unintentional opioid analgesic overdose.

A previous review (link: http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/pdf/1477-7517-9-1.pdf), appearing in the Harm Reduction Journal in January, similarly argued, "Prescribing cannabis in place of opioids for neuropathic pain may reduce the morbidity and mortality rates associated with prescription pain medications and may be an effective harm reduction strategy."

In November, clinical investigators at the University of California, San Francisco reported (link: http://norml.org/news/2011/11/10/study-v...-human-subjects) that vaporized cannabis augments the analgesic effects of opiates in subjects prescribed morphine or oxycodone. Authors of the study surmised that cannabis-specific interventions "may allow for opioid treatment at lower doses with fewer [patient] side effects."

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, "Cannabis as an Adjunct to or Substitute for Opiates in the Treatment of Chronic Pain," appears in The Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

Good post Smokum.

I can attest to the accuracy of this article: my opiate consumption has been (almost) cut by one-half since growing and vaping my own natural meds - began doing so just over two years ago.

It would be wonderful if more doctors opened their mind to such an obviously preferable treatment regime, one which does not cause as much harm as it does good.

Got to second that Doobie, they give me all the opiates I ask for, so I have to worry about getting hooked and/or the damage I'm doing to my organs. Ikeep them to a mim. with weed but could drop them altogether if we even had M/M so I could grow myself and try juicing and oils etc.

So you can relate TC, which somehow makes me feel better.

I have a shoe box full of percs, oxys, two kinds of morphine, not to mention left-over dilaudid tabs. It's nuts that these doctors push that stuff while refusing (in most cases) to even contemplate a natural, healthier alternative. As for being hooked, after five plus years on that stuff, it's a wonder my liver works at all - I have regular blood work done to confirm my enzymes are within acceptable parameters.



Sorry to hear you are not in one of the cannabis tolerant states.

Hate to say it but it's my choice to be here. I can aford to move anywhere if I'd sell my fram and leave my family. Just can't bring myself to do that, but if TX. or AK. gets M/M they are close enough for kids to visit. But there is one bright spot as long as I'm not growing or selling they would never put me in jail here in fact I'd bet I wouldn't even get a record out of it if some young start up cop arrested me.