Stop the Madness: The Need to Remove Barriers to Cannabis Therapy for Opioid Addiction
In 2015, my own world nearly stopped when my best friend, 25, passed away from opioid overdose. She died right as the opioid epidemic was swelling into a mainstay topic in the national conversation. According to data issued by the CDC, over 33,000 people lost their lives to an accidental opioid overdose in the United States in 2015. Shannon was just one of them.
Read more about Shannon’s story here.
After her death, I felt as though my eyes had been suddenly ripped open to the enormity of the opioid problem. I was constantly stumbling upon news reports about the mounting death toll. And one day at work, after reading about Prince’s sudden opioid-related death, I excused myself and fled to the bathroom to hide my tears, born out of sheer emotional exhaustion and renewed grief for my friend.
Opioid addiction continues to threaten the lives of average Americans, 2.5 million of which are currently addicted
Now, as I reflect back on that time nearly 4 years later, it is painful to see that the situation remains largely the same. In fact, rates of overdose are only increasing. Per the CDC, 115 people die every day of an opioid related cause in the United States and 2.5 million Americans continue to struggle with opioid addiction today. For those of us who have a personal tie to this crisis, it is embittering to see that all the money and publicity devoted to the issue has not made a dent in curbing the epidemic.
Unfortunately, the reality is that the epidemic continues to rage on because we are applying the same, tired treatments to opioid addiction and seemingly just hoping for a different result.
As they have been doing for years, medical practitioners and rehab centers continue to treat patients with “Medicated Assisted Treatments”. Typically, opioid addicts are offered alternative synthetic opioids, such as methadone or suboxone, which are intended to wean them off of the prescription opioids or heroin that has taken over their lives. However, these treatments can have significant side effects, including the potential for lethal overdose, and do nothing to cease the cycle of opioid addiction.
It is clear that we need to find a new approach. And I am happy to report that there is hope in the form of an infamous, green, aromatic plant: cannabis.
Cannabis legislation in states across the country has been correlated with reduced rates of opioid prescription and overdose. According to a study published in the American Medical Association’s JAMA Internal Medicine, “State implementation of medical marijuana laws was associated with a 5.88% lower rate of opioid prescribing”. Additionally, “states with medical cannabis laws had a 24.8% lower mean annual opioid overdose mortality rate…compared with states without medical cannabis laws”.
After consuming associated statistics and reading about the work of pioneering researchers who have studied the effects of cannabis in the brain, I am advocating for the application of cannabis therapy to opioid addiction. I am also advocating for the end to cannabis prohibition because it impedes our ability to openly investigate the potential of cannabis to solve this epidemic.
Doctors Supporting Cannabis for Opioid Addiction
Many influential scientists, researchers, and reporters have explored this issue and advocate for cannabis treatment for opioid addiction.
Many doctors and researchers advocate for the use of cannabis to treat opioid addiction
One doctor and journalist who is connecting the dots between cannabis and the opioid epidemic is CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
In a podcast episode of Breaking Ground with the Stanley Brothers, Dr. Gupta explains that the chemistry of cannabis has been studied and correlated with repairing the brain connections that are damaged through sustained opioid use. He says, “If you had to design a substance to pull us out of this awful opioid epidemic, it would look very much like cannabis.”
Dr. Gupta and his team have also produced a multi-part series about the cannabis plant, Weed, which has been viewed by millions of Americans on CNN. In the 4th installment of the series, which bears the subtitle Pot Over Pills, Dr. Gupta advocates for the use of cannabis therapy to treat opioid addiction. In order to back up his advocacy for this approach, he interviews several patients who have weaned off of opioid pills through cannabis use as well as the doctors and researchers who supported them through the transition.
In the documentary, Dr. Gupta interviews Dr. Yasmin Hurd. Dr. Hurd, director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai, has explored the correlation between cannabis therapy and opioid addiction. Her work highlights that opioid addiction significantly alters the brain connections in the prefrontal cortex, which impairs an addict’s ability to make effective decisions and essentially disables them from being about to “just say no” to their next dose of opioids.
However, she has found that the now-famous cannabidiol cannabinoid found within cannabis, also known as “CBD”, has the ability to repair these broken connections in the brain at the cellular level, which can ultimately help addicted individuals to overcome their cravings. Dr. Hurd has directed and completed various clinical trials that correlate CBD treatment to the reduction of opioid addiction.
Dr. Michele Ross, PhD, is another proponent of using cannabis for opioid addiction treatment. Dr. Ross is a neuroscientist who focuses on studying the effects of the brain under the influence of drugs and she has linked cannabis treatment to assisting opioid addicts by reducing overall pain and easing withdrawal symptoms. Dr. Ross is adamant about the potential for cannabis to save lives because, like many other Americans, she was directly impacted by the opioid epidemic when her younger brother died of an opioid and alcohol overdose.
Impediments to Research
Despite the growing body of evidence that cannabis has the potential to provide relief to the opioid-addicted population, the federal prohibition of cannabis prevents the practical application of this therapy to prospective patients.
Right now, the government classifies cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug alongside heroin and LSD, indicating that they do not recognize any medical value in the cannabis plant. The Schedule 1 classification of cannabis means that in order to engage in any clinical research, scientists are forced to navigate through an intricate maze of regulation in order to obtain the proper approvals.
In fact, in a 2017 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research, the authors highlight how current policy complicates the pursuit of further scientific research of cannabis. As the report states, “There are specific regulatory barriers, including the classification of cannabis as a Schedule I substance, that impede the advancement of cannabis and cannabinoid research.”
The time for federal cannabis legalization is now
This barrier to research has considerable ramifications because this impacts the medical community’s overall reception to the idea of using cannabis therapy as a potential solution to opioid addiction. Additionally, more cannabis research is required in order to convince lawmakers about the possibility of treating opioid addicts with cannabis.
But Schedule 1 classification for cannabis impedes the very research that could change hearts and minds. It’s a maddening Catch 22 that has real implications, including our reliance on status quo treatments and continued opioid-related deaths.
Although they are often frustrated by the barriers to getting research approved, cannabis scientists want to be able to conduct more research in order to prove the effectiveness of cannabis.
In Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s documentary series Weed, Dr. Yasmin Hurd calls for changes that would permit researchers and government agencies to run cannabis through the same stringent regulations and clinical trials that has dictated the implementation of every other medicinal compound. She says, “It [cannabis] should just be treated like everything else. Let it have its due process and let’s see what evidence is there for treating, or not treating, a particular disorder.”
In order to move the conversation forward, it is imperative that the U.S. government remove cannabis from the list of Schedule 1 drugs. This policy change would be the next step toward removing existing impediments to research and ultimately enable greater accessibility to would-be cannabis patients.
Stop the Madness
I’m calling for the end to the madness that we have collectively allowed to persist.
First of all, we need to combat the individual turmoil that is experienced with each and every case of opioid addiction. It is critical that scientists and informed members of the medical community pursue new approaches, such as cannabis therapy, to help addicted individuals heal from the brain damage caused by opioid addiction.
We all have a say in how our legislators deal with the opioid epidemic
But the madness that needs to be addressed runs deeper than the brain trauma of addicted individuals. More broadly, our communities and politicians need to come together to drive meaningful change to combat opioid addiction. We need to fight for the reduction of existing legal barriers that prevent researchers and doctors from proving the effectiveness of cannabis as a relevant therapy.
The federal prohibition of cannabis has significant downstream effects and ultimately prevents researchers, doctors, and patients to take the steps required to apply cannabis science to the prevention and cessation of opioid abuse.
But our opioid-addicted population is ailing and they need help now. It is time that we come together and remove the barriers that exist that prevent them from accessing the relief, through cannabis, that they deserve.
As 2020 approaches, consider using your vote to advocate for the opioid-addicted population. Vote for a candidate who supports removing cannabis from its Schedule 1 classification and is open to researching cannabis and expanding cannabis access to medical marijuana patients and recreational users alike. Talk to your friends and family about this, as well; changing policy can be slow, but it can be expedited through activism and a change in public opinion. We all have the power to demand better for our addicted brothers and sisters.
This story was originally published in the November 2019 Leaf Traders Newsletter. See the original story here!