Big Pharma’s Worst Nightmare, Survey Finds Most Medical Pot Users Quitting Prescription Drug Use
Another survey has been published showing the ability of marijuana to curb the use of dangerous prescription drugs, exposing its schedule one classification as a criminal act.
By Matt Agorist
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
January 14, 2019
A new survey published this month in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs helps explain why Big Pharma is so afraid of cannabis. The pharmaceutical and alcohol industries, both powerful influences in Washington, have long lobbied against cannabis legalization in order to protect their profits.
However, the tide has turned as decriminalization of medical and recreational cannabis sweeps the nation and the continent. With legalization, more and more people are discovering how this plant can provide a safe alternative to the dangerous effects of prescription pills.
Researchers recently distributed 400 questionnaires to medical marijuana patients at a public event asking them about their usage and attitudes toward the U.S. health care system. The results of that survey were published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.
As Marijuana Moment points out, the participants reported using marijuana for various medical conditions, including chronic pain, muscle spasms, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Most of them said that cannabis represented an effective and relatively harmless alternative to pharmaceuticals that are conventionally prescribed for their respective conditions.
“In comparison to pharmaceutical drugs, medical cannabis users rated cannabis better on effectiveness, side effects, safety, addictiveness, availability, and cost,” the study found. “Due to the medical use of cannabis, 42 percent stopped taking a pharmaceutical drug and 38 percent used less of a pharmaceutical drug.”
Highlighting the potential for marijuana to curb the nation’s drug problem, the most common drugs patients reported quitting or reducing using were opioid-based painkillers, non-opioid painkillers, benzodiazepines and anti-depressants.
As TFTP has reported, this massive shift from often dangerous prescription drugs to cannabis has been documented for some time now and is likely creating a wave of fear int he pharmaceutical industry. We reported on a survey conducted by the Centre for Addictions Research of BC in 2016 which found similar results.
The survey of 473 adult therapeutic cannabis users found that 87% of respondents gave up prescription medications, alcohol, or other drugs in favor of cannabis. Adults under 40 were likely to give up all three of these for medical cannabis.
The most startling revelation, and one that will have Big Pharma running to their crony lawmakers, is that 80% of respondents reported substituting cannabis for prescription drugs.
The Rest…HERE
