
The impact of cannabis access laws on opioid prescribing - InInteraction
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629618309020
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InInteraction
Abstract

While recent research has shown that cannabis access laws can reduce the use
of prescription opioids, the effect of these laws on opioid use is not well
understood for all dimensions of use and for the general United States
population. Analyzing a dataset of over 1.5 billion individual opioid
prescriptions between 2011 and 2018, which were aggregated to the individual
provider-year level, we find that recreational and medical cannabis access
laws reduce the number of morphine milligram equivalents prescribed each year
by 11.8 and 4.2 percent, respectively. These laws also reduce the total days’
supply of opioids prescribed, the total number of patients receiving opioids,
and the probability a provider prescribes any opioids net of any offsetting
effects. Additionally, we find consistent evidence that cannabis access laws
have different effects across types of providers, physician specialties, and
payers.

