Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2015 Source: Independent (UK) Copyright: 2015 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd. Contact: http://www.independent.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209 Author: Robert Sharpe Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n141/a04.html CANNABIS SHOWN TO SAVE LIVES Further to Janet Street-Porter's column on pain-killer abuse (7 March), new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that US states with open medical marijuana access have a 25 per cent lower opioid overdose death rate than cannabis prohibition states. The protective effect grows stronger with time. States with established cannabis access showed a 33 per cent reduction in deaths. This finding has huge implications. The substitution effect was documented by California physicians long before the JAMA research. Legal cannabis access is correlated with a reduction in opioid and alcohol abuse. The cannabis plant is incapable of causing an overdose death. Not even aspirin can make the same claim, much less alcohol or painkillers. The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner of drug war abuses. Legal cannabis has the potential to save thousands of lives. Robert Sharpe Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom