Pitt Review Finds That Legalizing Marijuana Temporarily Decreases Opioid Use

As Congressional Democrats force for cannabis legalization at the federal degree, a new University of Pittsburgh study further throws drinking water on the notion that marijuana is a so-known as “gateway” drug.

For a long time, public health and fitness education and learning programs and anti-legalization advocates have warned that cannabis use prospects people today to experiment with other much more deadly and addictive substances, this kind of as opioids. This conversing position has major public well being implications due to the ongoing overdose epidemic.

“We don’t discover any evidence to help the theory that hashish capabilities as a gateway drug…if something, we obtain that leisure cannabis legalization decreases opioid-relevant unexpected emergency office visits,” explained guide author Coleman Drake, an assistant professor specializing in health plan and administration at Pitt’s Graduate College of Community Wellbeing.

Drake and his workforce seemed at point out-stage combination details from California, Maine, Massachusetts

Read more