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IPFS News Link • Drugs and Medications

Big Pharma prescriptions including painkillers, antidepressants plummeting...

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(NaturalNews) Use of many prescription drugs has plummeted following the legalization of medical marijuana, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Georgia and published in the journal Health Affairs.

The researchers found that Medicare prescriptions fell for conditions that can be treated by cannabis, including anxiety, depression, pain, nausea, psychosis, seizures, sleep disorders and spasticity. Prescriptions for other types of drugs, such as blood-thinners, remained unchanged. This led the researchers to conclude that legalization led directly to the changing prescription habits.

The drop in prescriptions led to a measurable decrease in Medicare spending in those states.
 

Limits Big Pharma price gouging

The researchers found that medical marijuana reduced Medicare costs by $165 million in 2013. If medical marijuana had been legal and available nationwide, the savings would have been about $470 million.

"We wouldn't say that saving money is the reason to adopt this. But it should be part of the discussion," said study co-author W. David Bradford.

The researchers are also analyzing the effects of medical marijuana legalization on prescriptions paid by Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for low-income people. Preliminary data from that study show an even larger drop in pharmaceutical prescription costs.

Much of the savings might come simply from the fact that insurance does not cover medical marijuana, which can cost a patient as much as $400 per month out of pocket.

"I have some trouble with the idea that this is a source of savings," said Deepak D'Souza of Yale University, who has research medical marijuana but was not involved in the current study.

But Bradford believes that marijuana legalization does lower overall health spending, because marijuana is so much cheaper than many of the pharmaceuticals it displaces. This analysis is supported by Harvard Medical School emeritus professor Lester Grinspoon, who has written two books on the topic (but was not associated with the new study).


 


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