Op-Ed: Medical Cannabis Could Help Solve Opioid Crisis

Pamela Hadfield, co-founder of HelloMD, found out about the benefits of cannabis after suffering from migraines for years.

“When I was 14, I experienced my first migraine. It was like lighting came out of the sky and struck me in the head. I’d soon find that these migraines would unexpectedly hit in an instant and often,” she explained.

Hadfield finally settled on Vicodin to numb her migraine symptoms, but found that it was personality-altering, and that she was consuming more and more over time. Eventually a friend told her she should try cannabis and, within, months, she was able to prevent her migraine pain with a personalized cannabis concoction.

Today Hadfield is now a major advocate for medical marijuana. However, many people are still prescribed opioids to treat their pain, despite them being so highly addictive — and less effective. 

According to statement made by the National Academy of Science, adults with chronic pain are more likely to experience clinically significant levels of pain reduction when treated with cannabis and cannabinoids. Additionally, when states are given legal access to medical marijuana, prescription rates of opioids go down by about 25%, leading to less drug-related deaths.

Hadfield founded HelloMD, the largest community of health and wellness cannabis consumers, and recently did a study in conjunction with UC Berkeley. 97% of patients in the study agreed they were able to decrease their opioid use when cannabis was introduced into their medication regime.

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