--- title: States With Medical Marijuana Laws Have Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths description: Though it's not totally clear why canonical: https://time.com/3175582/states-with-medical-marijuana-laws-have-fewer-opioid-overdose-deaths/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-25T20:08:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:32.554Z article:section: Health og:title: States With Medical Marijuana Laws Have Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths og:description: Though it's not totally clear why og:url: https://time.com/3175582/states-with-medical-marijuana-laws-have-fewer-opioid-overdose-deaths/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: States With Medical Marijuana Laws Have Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths twitter:description: Though it's not totally clear why twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # States With Medical Marijuana Laws Have Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Colorado Sets Rules For Pot Edibles [Watch (HLS stream): Colorado Sets Rules For Pot Edibles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/s9DsgdzE.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2014-08-01. Colorado officials are tightening the rules and regulations for pot edibles to make accidental overdoses more difficult. Regulators drafted an emergency rule making it easier for consumers to tell how much THC is in the edibles they’re consuming._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 25, 2014 8:08 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 25, 2014 8:08 PM UTC States with medical marijuana laws have fewer deaths from opioid overdoses compared to states that do not allow medical marijuana, according to [new research](//archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.4005). Opioids for chronic pain, like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, are meant to suppress pain. Recent data shows that not only are prescriptions for these drugs up, but [rates of overdose and death are increasing](http://time.com/2822381/chicago-blaims-big-pharma-for-epidemic-addictions-to-painkillers/) as well. New research published Monday in the journal _JAMA Internal Medicine_ shows that states with medical marijuana laws have rates of anticipated opioid-related deaths 25% lower than states that don’t allow it. The researchers looked at death rates from opioids between 1999 and 2010 and found that the 13 states that allowed medical marijuana at the time had lower opioid mortality rates–the hypothesis being that patients with chronic pain perhaps switched from the heavy drugs to marijuana, since cannabinoids in marijuana react similarly in the brain. About 60% of all opioid deaths happen among people who have legitimate prescriptions, but abuse is also problematic. “Among people who use opioids illicitly, a relatively high proportion of them also use marijuana,” says study author Dr. Marcus Bachhuber of the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. Though the findings are intriguing, the researchers could not prove causation, and there are many possible explanations for the findings. States with medical marijuana laws may also have implemented more rules regarding opioid prescriptions or offered more education to doctors and patients about their addictive qualities. And several states like Minnesota and New York have passed at least limited legalized medical marijuana since 2010, so the findings already need to be updated. Still, if there is in fact an association, Bachhuber believes it’s encouraging. “I think that any change that leads to fewer people dying of opioid overdoses would be a positive.” The researchers say more research is needed to understand why people choose medical marijuana and whether people at risk for opioid abuse would consider it as an alternative. There’s also the issue of presenting a split medical community with the risks and benefits of prescribing someone marijuana. “I know many doctors struggle with the issue of who would be best to treat medical marijuana. There are some doctors who say that there is no valid medical use,” says Bachhuber. “I think that leaves a tremendous opportunity for future studies to help guide use to look at the risk and benefits and in clinical practice.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3175582/states-with-medical-marijuana-laws-have-fewer-opioid-overdose-deaths/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3175582/states-with-medical-marijuana-laws-have-fewer-opioid-overdose-deaths/"},"headline":"States With Medical Marijuana Laws Have Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths","datePublished":"2014-08-25T20:08:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:32.554Z","description":"Though it's not totally clear why","url":"https://time.com/3175582/states-with-medical-marijuana-laws-have-fewer-opioid-overdose-deaths/","keywords":["Addiction","Marijuana","Space","medical marijuana","Overdose","opioids","pain killers"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/addiction/","name":"Addiction"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3175582/states-with-medical-marijuana-laws-have-fewer-opioid-overdose-deaths/","name":"States With Medical Marijuana Laws Have Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Colorado Sets Rules For Pot Edibles","description":"Colorado officials are tightening the rules and regulations for pot edibles to make accidental overdoses more difficult. 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