The State of the Evidence on the Association Between State Cannabis Laws and Opioid-Related Outcomes: a Review

AbstractPurpose of ReviewThis review summarizes studies examining impacts of medical and recreational cannabis laws on opioid prescribing, opioid use, opioid use disorder, opioid-related service utilization, and opioid-involved mortality. We also discuss research challenges and recommendations for future work.Recent FindingsTwenty-one US-based studies published between 2014 and 2021 that assessed state cannabis laws ’ association with opioid-related outcomes were reviewed. Study results were largely inconclusive. We identified six challenges of existing work: (1) inability to directly measure cannabis/opioid substitution; (2) use of general population samples and lack of individual-level longitudinal studies; (3) challenges disentangling effects of cannabis laws from other state laws; (4) methodological challenges with staggered policy implementation; (5) limited consideration of cannabis law provisions; (6) lack of triangulation across data sources.SummaryWhile existing research suggests the potential for cannabis laws to reduce high-risk opioid prescribing and other opioid-related adverse outcomes, studies should be interpreted in light of limitations.

Source: Current Addiction Reports - September 28, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research