Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Biden Says Marijuana Might Be A Gateway Drug [View all]JonLP24
(29,322 posts)An easy Google search is all Biden or anyone has to do.
Can marijuana help end the opioids crisis?
In states where medical marijuana is legal, doctors write fewer opioid prescriptions and patients consume lower doses
Legalization opponents call marijuana a gateway drug that leads users to more dangerous substances. But could it also be an exit drug that helps ease the opioids crisis?
The data is scarce, but the anecdotes are plentiful.
After more than a decade in the US air force, Jennifer Baxter needed foot surgery. It wasnt successful, and she had to have two more procedures to correct her severely disfigured, painful and mechanically incorrect foot.
Baxter had had surgeries before, and had taken opioids to recover. But, as she tells it, this time she connected with a civilian doctor known for his generosity with pain medication.
She heard medical marijuana might be helpful and began using it in spring 2016. Balancing it with the slow-release morphine to stave off the symptoms of opioid withdrawal, she quit pills entirely in several months.
Today Baxter, 40, has a new life. She is engaged to be married. She volunteers with rescue animals and is involved in her church. She has lost weight and lives in Arizona, where she can legally obtain medical marijuana for her pain, PTSD and insomnia. She takes it nightly and sometimes during the day.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/01/marijuana-opioids-crisis-exit-drug
There is probably more evidence of it as an "exit drug" than a "gateway" drug. The vast majority of people who use cannabis do not go on to harder drugs. This is typically a talking point we hear from Republicans such as Chris Christie.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided