States that permit qualified patients to access medical marijuana via dispensaries possess 24.8 percent lower rates of opioid addiction and overdose deaths than states where medical marijuana is illegal, according to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonpartisan think tank.

In Tennessee in 2014, deaths from opioid overdose exceeded deaths by car accident and also exceeded deaths by gunshot.

Opioid overdose deaths in Tennessee have also increased by around 10 percent per year since 2012. It is by all accounts an epidemic. In the meantime, no deaths have been reported from marijuana overdose, and the reason is that marijuana does not shut down a person's breathing.

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