After Medical Marijuana Legalized, Medicare Prescriptions Drop For Many Drugs

Prescription drug prices continue to climb, putting the pinch on consumers. Some older Americans appear to be seeking an alternative to mainstream medicines that has become easier to get legally in many parts of the country.
Research published Wednesday found that states that legalized medical marijuana — which is sometimes recommended for symptoms like chronic pain, anxiety or depression — saw declines in the number of Medicare prescriptions for drugs used to treat those conditions and a dip in spending by Medicare Part D, which covers the cost on prescription medications.
Because the prescriptions for drugs like opioid painkillers and antidepressants — and associated Medicare spending on those drugs — fell in states where marijuana could feasibly be used as a replacement, the researchers said it appears likely legalization led to a drop in prescriptions. That point, they said, is strengthened because prescriptions didn't drop for medicines such as blood-thinners, for which marijuana isn't an alternative.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/06/484977159/after-medical-marijuana-legalized-medicare-prescriptions-drop-for-many-drugs?utm_source=************&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160706

 

yes, while this s true, it recently got denied by the fda(?) to reclassify cannabis stating that there are no medical benefits to cannabis. yes we all know thats a full fledged BS LIE. but what can one do until they get their heads out of their asses?

 

DEA

 

I read your post. This seems like false information. I'm sorry. I just don't think that there have been such findings. It seems unlikely in my mind.

 

That "post" is a copy and paste "news article"

 

It's also a moderately old thread nobody seemed interested in at the time....

 

Ok. I just thought that it seems likely there might be other reasons that don't tie the two together. Like, Medical Marijuana and Medicare Part D Costs are unrelated I guess is what I'm saying. I don't have a source I'm just babbling. I'm sorry.

 

Don't be sorry... You may be "babbling" at someone that doesn't come around much anymore, though.

 

I realize marijuana can be 20 times more potent than aspirin, but is cannabis strong enough to entirely replace opioids? Surely, sever pain can not be treated with marijuana alone.

 

I'd agree that for severe pain, Marijuana probably couldn't replace Opioids but I do think it could reduce their distribution to much more specific conditions. I think that Ketamine could potentially be useful for a lot of severe pain but there is caveat, in lieu of physical dependency of which the opioids elicits, patients would pretty much have to take Intramuscular injections of Ketamine, as I believe the oral route is much less efficient, if not broken down into a completely different drug altogether.

 

I think any drug should be prohibited and not sold in pharmacies, if we talk about the medicinal properties, then the doctor must himself conduct this procedure to the patient