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,egal marijuana could help offset opioid epidemic-CNN https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/02/health/medical-cannabis-law-opioid-. <br /> Health + Live TV U.S. Edition + <br /> 0 " disorders, according to the National Institute on Drug <br /> • <br /> Abuse. Research suggests that the cannabinoid and <br /> `' ` opioid receptor systems rely on common signaling <br /> ie sift OM Aft pathways in the brain, including the dopamine reward <br /> ' system that is central to drug tolerance, dependence <br /> and addiction. <br /> 41, <br /> "All drugs of abuse operate using some shared <br /> pathways. For example, cannabinoid receptors and <br /> Related Article: Doctors must lead us opioid receptors coincidentally happen to be located <br /> very close by in many places in the brain," Hill said. "So <br /> out of our opioid abuse epidemic it stands to reason that a medication that affects one <br /> system might affect the other." <br /> But unlike opioids, marijuana has little addiction potential, and virtually no deaths from marijuana overdose <br /> have been reported in the United States, according to Bradford. <br /> "No one has ever died of cannabis, so it has many safety advantages over opiates," Bradford said. "And to <br /> the extent that we're trying to manage the opiate crisis, cannabis is a potential tool." <br /> Comparing states with and without medical <br /> marijuana laws <br /> In order to evaluate whether medical marijuana could function as an effective and safe alternative to <br /> opioids, the two teams of researchers looked at whether opioid prescriptions were lower in states that had <br /> active medical cannabis laws and whether those states that enacted these laws during the study period <br /> saw reductions in opioid prescriptions. <br /> Both teams, in fact, did find that opioid prescriptions were significantly lower in states that had enacted <br /> medical cannabis laws. The team that looked at Medicaid patients also found that the four states that <br /> switched from medical use only to recreational use -- Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington -- saw <br /> further reductions in opioid prescriptions, according to Hefei Wen, assistant professor of health <br /> management and policy at the University of Kentucky and a lead author on the Medicaid study. <br /> "We saw a 9% or 10% reduction (in opioid prescriptions) in Colorado and Oregon," Wen said. "And in Alaska <br /> and Washington, the magnitude was a little bit smaller but still significant." <br /> f 6 5/8/2018,4:25 PM <br />