Recreational marijuana access reduces demand for prescription drugs


Date:
April 18, 2022
Source:
Cornell University
Summary:
Legalization of recreational marijuana reduces demand for costly
prescription drugs through state Medicaid programs, according to
a new analysis.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Legalization of recreational marijuana reduces demand for costly
prescription drugs through state Medicaid programs, according to an
analysis by a Cornell researcher and a collaborator.


==========================================================================
When states legalize marijuana, the volume of prescriptions within
the drug classes that align with the medical indications for pain,
depression, anxiety, sleep, psychosis and seizures significantly decline,
the researchers found.

Shyam Raman, a doctoral student in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School
of Public Policy, and Indiana University doctoral student Ashley
Bradford conducted the research. Their article, "Recreational Cannabis Legalizations Associated with Reductions in Prescription Drug Utilizations Among Medicaid Enrollees," published April 15 in the journal Health
Economics.

Most cannabis research has focused on the impact of medical marijuana
on demand for prescription drugs or the impact of recreational use
legalization on opioid demand. This is among the first studies to
focus on the impact of legal personal-use cannabis on a broad range of prescription drugs.

"These results have important implications," Raman said. "The reductions
in drug utilization that we find could lead to significant cost savings
for state Medicaid programs. The results also indicate an opportunity to
reduce the harm that can come with the dangerous side effects associated
with some prescription drugs." Raman and Bradford based their study on
an analysis of data retrieved from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in all 50 states from 2011 to 2019, a period that saw growth
in the number of states permitting personal use of marijuana.

About 40 states have legalized medical marijuana that must be prescribed
by a doctor. So far, about 20 states have legalized personal-use cannabis
for all adults, but that number is likely to rise. In those states,
Raman and Bradford found a meaningful change in the demand for drugs
used to treat sleep and anxiety disorders but no real impact on drugs
used to treat nausea.

Raman and Bradford caution that cannabis use is not itself without harm,
noting the many studies that associate it with a potential triggering
of anxiety and psychoses such as schizophrenia. Also, patients who use marijuana to treat their medical conditions may be shifting away from
visiting their doctor and therein creating discontinuities in primary
care.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cornell_University. Original written
by Jim Hanchett, courtesy of the Cornell Chronicle. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Shyam Raman, Ashley Bradford. Recreational cannabis legalizations
associated with reductions in prescription drug utilization among
Medicaid enrollees. Health Economics, 2022; DOI: 10.1002/hec.4519 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220418122935.htm

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