Running head: SOLVING THE US OPIOID EPIDEMIC 1

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE US OPIOID

EPIDEMIC WITH MARIJUANA

Dane A. Frauenheim

Nevada State College

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Possible Solutions to the US Opioid Epidemic

The United States has been at war with drugs such as cocaine, meth and heroin in the

last century. But now there is a new even more deadly drug that unlike these illegal street drugs

can be obtained with a doctor's signature. Opioids, most notably fentanyl is now the most

deadly drug in the US with over 70,000 deaths a year. Countless studies have been done

showing the number of deaths it causes and the negative effects it can have on the human

body. Some such examples are the study by the National Center for Health Statistics that shows

a dramatic increase in the number of teen opioid related deaths since the ninetys, and another

study by Zero to Three shows the side effects and explains how people are dying from the

drugs. Since the dangers of these substances are well known now the important question is

how the epidemic can be contained. Possible methods for slowing the death rate from opioids

are by prescribing alternative medicines, creating more strict laws on prescriptions, or

completely banning certain forms of the substance. Substitutes such as marijuana may take

over in the future as both safer and cheaper alternatives.

Discussion

A Canadian study by the Slovak group researches the possibility of marijuana being used

medically as a pain reliever. This could be a possible replacement to prescribe instead of opioids

which would be much safer due to marijuana being non addictive. Some people already use it

to deal with their pain but it has yet to be adopted in the medical community due to the

societal stigma of the drug.

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Limitations of These Studies

More research is needed on cannabis, especially in the United States where it is just

now being legalized in some states. Due to it being passed as a schedule one drug during the

cold war by the US government because the hippies going against the government advocated

for its use studies on marijuana are illegal. Although this study found positive results further

studies must be done to see how strong the pain relieving effect can be and then they need to

see if it can actually replace an opioid.

Demographic limitations. Due to the fact that this study took place in Canada a country

that has fully legalized the use of both medical and recreational marijuana use it was legally

able to be done. In most of the US and the rest of the world it would not have been possible to

do a study like this without governmental approval. In places where opioid death is not as

common it may not even be needed to find such replacements. Opioids can still be useful

painkillers if used in the right way with the right dosage. Although recent studies have been

able to be done in the US and the university has collected all relevant data on it. They have

concluded that ,”To date, 28 well conducted randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have documented

that cannabinoid agents are effective analgesics for chronic pain.”

Governmental limitations. In the US specifically opioids may be causing tens of

thousands of deaths and the government may not condone the overuse of these drugs ,but

they still support opioids. The US government still backs the big companies that sell opioids,

doctors prescribing them ,and the countries from which they get both their opioids and oil in
the middle east. This is because the amount of money and power the medical companies have

influence

politicians along with the millions made from taxing the drugs. Legislation to act on the

epidemic has been slow and non beneficial because of it. If the US government were to

completely legalize other substitutes such as cannabis they would be able to create the same

revenue from taxing it. The US people could also push for greater restrictions on the criteria for

prescribing the drugs but that would also anger drug companies and the tax collectors.

Conclusions and Future Study

These studies prove how dangerous opioids can be and the amount of death that can

follow abusing them, and they also show possible alternatives to end this crisis. More studies

need to be conducted to check the validity of marijuana as a replacement drug. If any laws are

created to stop the crisis studies should be done to show if there was actually a positive change

created. Based on the studies the problem will continue to grow in the US and the government

will continue to try and ignore it for business reasons, but new ideas come up every day on laws

or replacement drugs that could slow the epidemic. The most promising fix is the use of

marijuana medically as a replacement which will hopefully be implemented in the near future.

An Expert Review Committee assembled by the National Academy of Sciences as recently as

2017 has concluded that “there is substantial evidence that cannabis is an effective treatment

for chronic pain in adults.” The science can back up the change now the people and the

government have to be educated and get behind it to create a real difference in peoples health.
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