by MARCO TORRES
PreventDisease.com

Every year, painkillers such as Percocet, Vicodin and other opioids kill thousands. Opioid prescriptions have jumped 300 percent in the last decade.  They are the most commonly prescribed drugs on the market. They are the most dangerous and addictive drugs which often lose effectiveness with long-term use. So when a plant comes along that can effectively curb dependency on these popular selling medications, pharmaceutical companies get very get angry.

Marijuana does just that.

The collusion between Big Pharma and government is so strong that the system still believes (through corruption) that a plant should be classified as an illegal drug. There is an abundance of evidence that the suppression of medical marijuana is one of the greatest failures of a free society, journalistic and scientific integrity as well as our fundamental values. There is no plant on Earth more condemned than marijuana.

In a historic and significant moment in American history, in November of 2012, Colorado became the first US state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The impact of the decision has rippled across the entire country with vast opportunities to educate millions on the health benefits of marijuana and specifically for pain.

Attorney Generals from 28 States Oppose New FDA Pain Drug

More than 100 million people in the United States suffer from debilitating chronic pain. Pain resulting from a severe on-the-job injury is a frustrating experience both for the patient as well as the treating health practitioners and physicians. If pursuing conventional medical care, it leads to chronic dependence on opiate painkillers and antidepressants which eventually cause toxicity of the brain and disturb metabolic function. However the relief of pain may be less desired if quality of life of such individuals is poor. The physician and the patients are left with no option but to resort to alternative modes of therapy.

Thousands of people who use opioids for pain control die from overdose each year–and the number is increasing. In fact, opioid overdose deaths have quadrupled within 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and three out of four of these deaths involve prescription pain medications, not street drugs. Most of the people who die–60%–aren’t using the drugs illegally either. They have legitimate prescriptions.

Against the recommendation of its own panel of expert advisers, last December the agency approved Zohydro ER, a long-acting version of hydrocodone. But attorneys general from 28 states have asked the FDA to reconsider its decision because the drug offers no clear advantages over others already on the market and its potency makes it a target for misuse and abuse.

Cannabinoid Studies on Pain

Some studies have examined the effect of adding a cannabinoid to the regimen of patients with chronic pain who report significant pain despite taking stable doses of potent opioids.

An investigational cannabinoid therapy helped provide effective analgesia when used as an adjuvant medication for cancer patients with pain that responded poorly to opioids, according to results of a multicenter trial reported in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society.

Cannabis Consumption Reduces Prescription Drug Abuse

When patients begin to consume cannabis, there is a notable decline in the amount of prescribed medications taken, such as antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and pain relievers. These drugs have severe side effects. There is not one clinical study that examined the use of cannabis for pain relief in which subjects were not able to reduce their drug intake.

A recent study has revealed some very interesting facts about medical marijuana, relief of chronic pain and patient safety. Meanwhile medical marijuana is becoming legal in more and more states. Here’s why you should be thinking about it if you or a loved one suffers from chronic pain.

A team of investigators from the University of Pennsylvania decided to take a look at the incidence of opioid-related deaths in states that have legalized medical marijuana. They reasoned that since pain control is a major reason why people use medical marijuana, states that have legalized or decriminalized the herb might have lower rates of opioid-related deaths. The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

About 60 percent of overdoses occur in people prescribed the drugs by a single physician, not in those who “doctor shopped” or got them on the black market. And a third of those were taking a low dose. That just doesn’t happen with marijuana.

33 Percent Reduction In Deaths From Opioids

To test its theory, the team analyzed medical marijuana laws and 10 years of death certificates from every state in the United States. The research team discovered that, in states that allowed medical marijuana, the overall average annual death rate from opioid overdose was almost 25% lower than it was in states where medical marijuana remained illegal. Not only that, but the relationship grew stronger over time. When average death rates were looked at on a year-to-year basis, the researchers discovered that deaths from opioids decreased by an average 20% in the first year of medical marijuana legalization…25% by the second year…and up to 33% by the fifth and sixth years after medical marijuana was legalized.

”It’s been known anecdotally,” says researcher Mark Ware, MD, assistant professor of anesthesia and family medicine at McGill University in Montreal. “About 10% to 15% of patients attending a chronic pain clinic use cannabis as part of their pain [control] strategy…we’ve shown again that cannabis is analgesic,” Ware says. “Clearly, it has medical value.”

The cannabis relieves pain, Ware says, by ”changing the way the nerves function.”

The Institute of Medicine published in its Mar. 17, 1999 report titled Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. “In conclusion, the available evidence from animal and human studies indicates that cannabinoids can have a substantial analgesic effect.”

When it comes to pain management, some studies even suggest that patients who use vaporizers to consume medical marijuana could experience excellent results. A team of Israeli scientists recently conducted a clinical trial in which they discovered that patients who vaporized whole-plant cannabis felt a substantial amount of relief from nerve pain. These findings, which were published in the latest edition of the Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, indicate that the majority of the study participants reported this reduction as the result of inhalers.

Misconceptions about Opioids