January 2016
Featured in this insight: Medical & healthcare, International
Survey reveals many have substituted prescriptions for cannabis: A recent survey by the Centre for Addictions Research of BC, in Canada, has revealed that many people have replaced prescription medicine for marijuana.
The pharmaceutical and alcohol industries – which are hugely powerful influences in Washington – have long campaigned against the legalisation of cannabis to protect their income.
Despite the alcohol and pharmaceutical company’s efforts to stop the legalisation of cannabis, the decriminalisation of medical and recreational marijuana has occurred across the United States. On the back of the legalisation, many people are discovering that cannabis can provide a safe alternative to some unpleasant side effects of prescription medicine.
Of the 473 respondents – who were all adult and actively used medical marijuana – 87 per cent said that they had stopped taking prescription medicines, drinking alcohol and consuming other drugs, in favour of cannabis. The researchers discovered that the adults under the age of 30 were the most likely to give up prescription pills, alcohol and other drugs, for therapeutic cannabis.
According to the research, 80 per cent of the participants have substituted prescription drugs for cannabis. As well as this, 52 per cent said that they replaced alcohol for cannabis and 32 per cent substituted other illicit substances for it.
The Free Thought Projects that the United States is going through a painkiller epidemic, with deaths from overdoses increasing, as large pharmaceutical companies dominates mainstream medicine.
In the United States, opioid painkillers and heroin deaths are now the leading cause of fatal injuries. As well as this, alcohol now kills Americans at a rate not seen in 35 years.
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