It appears a fair number of DUers are unaware of an opioid crisis,

[Bluenorthwest]

63. MA is about to hit your second anniversary with medical marijuna. CA is at 18 years.

This is the conclusion from the JAMA study on the subject:
Conclusions and Relevance Medical cannabis laws are associated with significantly lower state-level opioid overdose mortality rates. Further investigation is required to determine how medical cannabis laws may interact with policies aimed at preventing opioid analgesic overdose.
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1898878

The rest is at the link.

This is from Penn Medicine and is less dense reading on the same study:

Penn Study Shows 25 Percent Fewer Opioid-Related Deaths in States Allowing Medical Marijuana
Results Suggest Medical Marijuana Laws May Have Unexpected Benefits

PHILADELPHIA — On average, states allowing the medical use of marijuana have lower rates of deaths resulting from opioid analgesic overdoses than states without such laws. Opioid analgesics, such as OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, are prescribed for moderate to severe pain, and work by suppressing a person’s perception of pain. A new multi-institutional study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine and led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, examined the rate of deaths caused by opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2010. Results reveal that on average, the 13 states allowing the use of medical marijuana had a 24.8 percent lower annual opioid overdose mortality rate after the laws were enacted than states without the laws, indicating that the alternative treatment may be safer for patients suffering from chronic pain related to cancer and other conditions.
http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/bachhuber/

I'm not saying that's the only step we can take, but I am saying that if the goal is reduction of overdoses by 25% and that is what is already being done in over a dozen States, that fact should at least be mentioned by O'Malley. He says 'we want to reduce by 25%' but when shown that some of us have done so already he does not seem to care to hear it.