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Elizabeth Warren asks CDC to consider legal marijuana as alternative painkiller

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flowers:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/12/elizabeth-warren-medical-marijuana-painkiller-opioid-abuse


--- Quote ---Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to consider the role legal marijuana could play in the prescription opioid epidemic.

Warren asked for more research into medical marijuana and painkiller addiction in a letter to the CDC director, Thomas Friedan.

“Opioid abuse is a national concern and warrants swift and immediate action,” Warren wrote.

Her request comes as politicians, including the presidential nominees, search for the best response to the opioid epidemic.

The use of prescription opioids doubled between 2000 and 2014, according to the CDC. And Massachusetts experienced its highest number of unintentional opioid overdose deaths in 2014, with nearly 1,100 people succumbing to overdose deaths.

Warren applauded the CDC’s actions so far to curb the epidemic but called on the agency to look at whether medical marijuana could be an alternative
--- End quote ---

EC:
I agree with her. Totally in this case.

Anecdotally, it seems to be an effective pain management option, as well as an effective treatment for PTSD. So lets see if it ACTUALLY is, instead of leaving it to potheads and dodgy science to report on. The CDC should have done these studies years ago.

truth_seeker:
Opioid addiction is indeed a very big problem. And it goes far beyond street junkies, into college and middle class environments.

A common scenario begins with legitimate, prescribed opioid pain killers (Vicodin, Darvon, etc.).

But the prescription runs out, or the individual wants more, so they turn to street sources.
 
At the level of street sources, heroin is cheaper and easier to find.

So now you have a relatively inexperienced drug user, taking an unknown quantity of a deadly drug.

Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix didn't commit suicide. They overdosed when the drugs they got were far, far more potent than ordinary supplies.

Warren is correct, about researching to learn if marijuana could substitute for dangerous pain meds.

alicewonders:
I agree as well.  I simply do not understand the prejudice against a simple herb that can be easily grown.....oh, wait...if I grow it for myself, then big Pharma can't make any money off of it and neither can the government!   :pondering:

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