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Comment by JohnTHaller | Hacker News Reader

But then we'll likely wind up with people using less opioids and 25% fewer deaths due to opioid overdose like we've seen elsewhere and won't someone think of the poor pharmaceutical companies? /s

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For context, there was a study published three weeks ago observing that opioid overdoes fatalities are down in Colorado since they legalized recreational marijuana:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/16/legal...

ER Visits for Kids Rise Significantly After Pot Legalized in Colorado

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/er-visits-kids-ri...

Nope, ER visits involving marijuana use went up for 13- to 21. But, frankly so did usage and 18-21 is not exactly children plus people are less likely to seek treatment after illegal activity, so that's a non story.

Overall ER visits where unchanged.

There was a fair amount of improper labeling, improper storage instructions for new time users, and improper understanding that edibles may be extremely potent and slower acting and can actually get you a lot higher than you might intend (vs smoking where the onset is basically instant and easier to control for).

The industry has made progress in labeling, in better indicating dosages, and in maybe avoiding certain form factors or ensuring proper packaging so that the product cannot be easily mistaken for candy.

But the amazing thing is that even with some significant mistakes / shortcomings in this area in almost all cases the result of accidental ingestion or over-consumption is basically just a matter of sleeping it off.

Has there been any studies on this?

I'm under the impression that opoids are much stronger than cannabis, would people who take them be able to wean off them onto cannabis based products?

Opioids are absolutely stronger. Marijuana provides a previously unavailable mid-tier level of pain control where a lot of people who didn't want to be taking opioids now have a better option.

I agree, worth studying, but probably difficult to compare across the board. You'd probably need to identify groups with the same kind of pain and study those individual groups. But right now, is there all that much on the market between opioids and NSAIDs? Cannabis would at least provide an additional method of action, and maybe they go with what works best for the specific pain or patient.

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