Pubdate: Thu, 03 Sep 2015 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: John W. Conroy Page: B5 CUT OPIATE USE WITH POT Cannabis an effective alternative for treatment of chronic pain Re: Doctors blamed for flood of opioids, Aug. 25 So "weak" doctors are bowing to the demands of their patients and are over-prescribing opioids and "killing more people than cars." According to a 2011 study in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, cannabis may statistically decrease pain effects; and a 2014 study from JAMA Internal Medicine found there were fewer painkiller deaths in U.S. states that had legalized medical marijuana. Cannabis has been successfully used to assist in opiate addiction withdrawal and cessation for many years. I have met hundreds of medically approved patients who have told me they are off all the many opioids they were previously prescribed and now only use cannabis. They have regained their lives, and their families have regained them. You would think cannabis would be available to doctors as an option and/or alternative to assist in the reduction of patients' chronic pain symptoms, as well as withdrawal and cessation of opiate use, with less or no risk of overdose deaths because cannabis has no lethal dose, unlike opiates. However, the College of Physicians and Surgeons decrees that cannabis use is not generally appropriate for patients who have an active substance abuse disorder and dissuades all doctors from having anything to do with medical marijuana absent exceptional and then well-documented circumstances. Doctors can charge fees for prescribing opiates that "are killing more people than cars," but not for marijuana that cannot kill and might make that patient's death less likely. John W. Conroy Abbotsford - --- MAP posted-by: Matt