In a new study, researchers suggest that the use of medical marijuana may not help beat the current opioid crisis.
Some previous studies have shown that some proponents of medical marijuana can be used to fight against pain.
This leads to the idea that medical marijuana may help prevent opioid abuse in patients.
But the new study shows that in the U.S., state laws legalizing medical marijuana have had little impact on the issue.
In the study, the team analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2004 to 2014.
They examined links between the prescription opioid use, opioid addiction and living in a state where medical marijuana is legal.
The study included about 70,000 people who were aged 12 and older.
The team compared the overall effect of opioid use after versus before medical marijuana laws were passed.
They found that there was only slight decreases or no change in opioid addiction in users of prescription opioids.
There were also small increases in non-medical use of prescription opioids.
The findings show no evidence that the passage of medical marijuana laws was linked to a decrease in the use of prescription opioids for non-medical purposes.
It may be not enough to rely on moves such as the legalization of medical marijuana to prevent opioid addiction.
Other methods, such as monitoring prescription drugs and making laws on prescribing practices may be necessary.
The lead author of the study is Dr. Luis Segura, a doctoral student in epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
The study is published in JAMA Network Open. it was done by a team from the Columbia University.
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