States that legalize medical or recreational marijuana see “significant reductions” in opioid overdoses among adults with employer-sponsored health insurance—indicating that a “substitution” effect may be at play—according to a new federally funded study.
While numerous studies have linked state-level legalization to reduced opioid deaths, researchers at the University of Kentucky’s College of Public Health said their data is the first of its kind to identify an association between cannabis access and non-fatal opioid poisonings.
The study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports, analyzed claims data on 107.5 million commercially insured adults aged 18-64 from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. from 2011 to 2021.
Medical marijuana dispensaries and adult-use cannabis legalization was associated with “significant reductions in non-fatal opioid poisonings in the employer-sponsored insured population, particularly among male and younger populations,” the study authors found.
Specifically, access to medical cannabis dispensaries (MCDs) and recreational cannabis laws (RCLs) were associated with a 15.47 percent and 11.92 percent reduction in non-fatal opioid overdoses per 100,000 enrollees per quarter, respectively.
“The reductions tied to medical dispensaries were significant for both men and women, and especially notable among younger adults ages 18–34, who saw a 23.27 percent reduction,” the researchers found.
“These findings
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