Medical Marijuana - the newest opioid substitute?
In an article on The Boston Herald entitled "Doctors pioneer pot as an opioid substitute" (by Chris Villani - Sunday, October 04, 2015), Dr. Gary Witman of Fall River Canna Care clinic, a network of facilities that issue medicinal marijuana cards in seven states, including nine clinics in Massachusetts, says "We have a statewide epidemic of opioid deaths." Witman feels Cannabis can treat patient's symptoms which they had previously using opioids to manage, such as chronic pain or anxiety — and treat them far more safely.
Witman says he has treated about 80 patients who were addicted to opioids, muscle relaxers or anti-anxiety medication with cannabis, using a one-month tapering program. The results? More than 75 percent of those patients stopped taking the harder drugs.
“As soon as we can get people off opioids to a nonaddicting substance — and medicinal marijuana is nonaddicting — I think it would dramatically impact the amount of opioid deaths” Witman said.
Dr. Harold Altvater of Delta 9 Medical Consulting in Malden says he has also seen success with medical marijuana as a substitution therapy: “You are basically taking something that can be very harmful for an individual, and substituting with another chemical, just like you would any other drug, that has a wider safety margin. So if the goal is to decrease the body count … the goal would be to get them on to a chemical that was safer.”
The article in The Boston Harold also interviewed some patients: "Patients who have had success with the treatment sing its praises. Howard Bart, a patient at Dhanabalan’s clinic, knew very little about medicinal marijuana before his wife researched the topic online. He says it has been a life-changer for him. After four back surgeries, he had been on various painkillers for more than 20 years — until he started taking cannabis this year. He has not had a pill in seven weeks. 'The marijuana saved my bacon from discomfort and pain every time,” he said. “My doctor told me it has something to do with receptors. All I know is, it works.'"
If you have an organization that can help those suffering from substance abuse - what products are you using? Do you feel medical marijuana is a valid substitution therapy, or will we create a whole new population of people who are just addicted to the newest "legal" product?