More than 1.5 billion
people suffer from chronic pain and approximately 4% suffer from
neuropathic pain worldwide.(Source)
Opiates are the most common prescribed medication for pain in the
United States. Research has shown that the success rate of opiates
for treating pain is 30-40% with horrible side effects.(Source)
In 2007 prescription pain killers contributed to 42% of all drug
deaths in America.(Source)
Research has shown that Cannabis is a favorable alternative to
opiate pain medication.
Benefit #1 Cannabis
Treats your Emotional Response to Pain
In 2010 Oxford University conducted a study on how pain is
perceived. In the study volunteers were told if electric charges
would be dangerous or not before they received them. The perception
of danger made the charges more painful. The brain felt pain before
the charge was administered.(Source)
Cannabis relaxes the emotional response by affecting the brain
receptors that deal with emotion.
Benefit #2 Cannabis
Reduces Cancer Growth
Many studies have shown that
marijuana lowers cancer cell growth.(Source)
In 2012 the University of Chicago put out a report to showing that
opiates may increase cancer growth. Jonathan Moss, MD, PhD,
professor of anesthesiology and critical care at the University of
Chicago Medicine said "Epidemiologic findings
suggest that the type of anesthesia we do for cancer surgery
influences recurrence rate, and laboratory studies demonstrate that
opioids influence tumor progression and metastasis,". In another
study, cancer cells in the lungs show 5-10 times as many opiod
receptors than non-cancer cells.(Source)
Benefit #3 Cannabis is
Less Addictive than Opiates
A study by the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that 9% of cannabis users have
an addiction problem.(Source)
To put this in perspective, 8% of Americans are addicted to Facebook,
checking their account 11 or more times a day.(Source)
Heroin is an opiate that has a 23% abuse rate.(Source)
In 2010 two million people reported using prescription painkillers
for non-medical reasons in a one year period (5,500 a day).(Source)
Benefit #4 Cannabis
Reduces Side Effects that Opiates Have
Opiates are Central Nervous System
(CNS) Depressants. If the CNS is overly-depressed too far this can
result in difficulty with the heart beating or the ability to
breathe.(Source)
Other side effects include hormonal imbalance,
constipation, nausea, and drowsiness.(Source)
Studies have found that using cannabis along with opiates reduces
side effects and decreases addiction.(Source)
Benefit #5 Cannabis
Overdose Deaths = 0
There have been no reported
overdose deaths for marijuana. (Source)
In 2010 the number of opiate overdose deaths were 16,651.
Six percent of people who use prescribed opiates use it as a gateway
drug for heroin use. (Source)
In 2012 the opioid heroin use resulted in 5,925 deaths as a result of
overdose.
Source:
http://cannabisnowmagazine.com/cannabis/medical/marijuana-works-better-than-opiates-to-control-pain-heres-how
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/causes_of_death#sthash.q4PDb6Tl.dpbs
