T
he Alliance for Innovative Medi-
cine (AIM) is a 501(c)(4) nonprof-
it organization that serves as the
voice for professionals who believe
that medical cannabis should be
legalized in the Commonwealth of Ken-
tucky. AIM’s diverse network of contributors
includes health care, law enforcement and
legal professionals. The mission of AIM is to
fuse the talents of like-minded professionals into a powerful advo-
cacy effort to persuade Kentucky executive, legislative and judicial
branch leaders to legalize medical cannabis as soon as possible.
I volunteered as the medical liaison for AIM after a thorough
review of the relevant social science and medical literature con-
firmed a scientific basis for the anecdotal positive benefits of can-
nabis reported by patients during my 12-year radiation oncology
career. For example, medical cannabis has been proven effective
in the treatment of a multitude of debilitating medical conditions
(particularly pain, decreased appetite, weight loss, nausea and
drug-resistant seizures). 2,3
Due to the national opioid epidemic, I was also pleased to
learn that state medical cannabis laws have been correlated with
an approximately 11 percent decrease in the annual number of
daily opioid doses prescribed per physician. 4 In addition, states
that have legalized medical cannabis — compared to states that
have not legalized medical cannabis — have an approximately 25
percent lower average opioid overdose death rate, a 23 percent
reduction in hospitalizations related to opioid dependence, and
a 13 percent reduction in hospitalizations related to opioid pain
reliever overdose. 5,6 Furthermore, emerging scientific evidence
suggests that cannabis is an “exit” drug rather than a “gateway”
drug, helping people decrease or eliminate their use of much more
dangerous drugs such as opiates (and alcohol). 7,8 And, unlike pre-
scription drugs (especially opiates), cannabis has relatively minor
negative side effects, does not increase or contribute to the likeli-
hood of death, and is non-lethal. 9
Allaying my concern that legalization of medical cannabis might
increase teen abuse of cannabis, I discovered that, for persons aged
12-17 years between 2002 and 2013 (a time period during which
13 states enacted medical cannabis laws), the prevalence of canna-
bis use disorders fell by approximately 24 percent, 10 the prevalence
of past-year cannabis use fell by approximately 17 percent, the
prevalence of past-month cannabis use fell by approximately 10
percent, the prevalence of daily or almost-daily past-year cannabis
use fell by approximately 29 percent, the prevalence of daily or al-
most-daily past-month cannabis use fell by approximately 33 per-
cent, and the prevalence of past-year cannabis initiation among
persons at risk for initiation fell by approximately 15 percent. 11
Medical cannabis may save the lives of our patients in indirect
ways also. For example, state legalization of medical cannabis has
been associated with an approximately 11 percent reduction in the
suicide rate of men aged 20-29 years and an approximately 9 per-
cent reduction in the suicide rate of men aged 30-39 years. 12 And
FEATURE
state legalization of medical cannabis has been correlated with an
approximately 10 percent reduction in traffic fatalities the first full
year after coming into effect. 13
Finally, my research revealed unexpected economic benefits,
for medical cannabis laws at the state level have been associated
with statistically significant decreases in health care spending by
the U.S. federal government and the relevant state governments. 14
In conclusion, AIM is a nonprofit professional organization that
advocates for the legalization of medical cannabis in the Com-
monwealth of Kentucky. Medical cannabis alleviates symptoms
from a variety of serious medical conditions without significant
side effects and reduces opioid use/hospitalization/overdose death
rates, state and national health care spending, traffic fatalities, teen
cannabis initiation/use/disorders, and male suicide rates. Join the
movement!
Don Stacy, MD is a physician-activist. He practices radiation oncolo-
gy in Louisville, KY and Jeffersonville, IN.
REFERENCES:
Institute of Medicine, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base
(Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999).
2 Institute of Medicine, The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids:
The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research (Wash-
ington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2017).
3 Devinsky, O. et al., “Trial of Cannabidiol for Drug-Resistant Seizures in the
Dravet Syndrome,” New England Journal of Medicine 376, 2017: 2011-2020.
4 Bradford, A. and Bradford W., “Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Prescrip-
tion Medication Use in Medicare Part D,” Health Affairs 35, 2016: 1230-1236.
5 Bachhuber, M. et al., “Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Over-
dose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2010,” JAMA Internal Medicine
174(10), 2014: 1668-1673.
6 Shi, Y. et al., “Medical Marijuana Policies and Hospitalizations Related to
Marijuana and Opioid Pain Reliever,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 173,
2017: 144-150.
7 Lucas, P. et al., “Cannabis as a Substitute for Alcohol and Other Drugs: A
Dispensary-Based Survey of Substitution Effect in Canadian Medical Canna-
bis Patients,” Addiction Research and Theory 21(5), 2013: 435-442.
8 Gruber, S. et al., “Splendor in the Grass? A Pilot Study Assessing the Impact
of Medical Marijuana on Executive Function,” Frontiers in Pharmacology
7(Article 355), 2016: 1-12.
9 Sidney, S. et al., “Marijuana Use and Mortality,” American Journal of Public
Health 87(4), 1997: 585-590.
10 Grucza, R. et al., “Declining Prevalence of Marijuana Use Disorders
Among Adolescents in the United States, 2002 to 2013,” Journal of the Amer-
ican Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 55(6), 2016: 487-494.
11 Azofeifa, A. et al., “National Estimates of Marijuana Use and Related Indi-
cators – National Survey on Drug Use and Health, United States, 2002-2014,”
MMWR Surveillance Summaries 65(No. SS-11), 2016: 1-25.
12 Anderson, D. et al., “Medical Marijuana Laws and Suicides by Gender
and Age,” American Journal of Public Health 104(12), 2014: 2369-2376.13
Anderson, D. et al., “Medical Marijuana Laws, Traffic Fatalities, and Alcohol
Consumption,” The Journal of Law and Economics 56(2), 2013: 333-369.
14 Bradford, A. and Bradford W., “Medical Marijuana Laws May Be Associ-
ated with a Decline in the Number of Prescriptions for Medicaid Enrollees,”
Health Affairs 36(5), 2017: 945-951.
AUGUST 2017
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