Marijuana vs Opioids - Is Cannabis Better Than Opioids to Treat Pain
- floridasbest420
- Oct 23, 2017
- 2 min read
With a new, bustling cannabis industry taking off in Florida, people are finally able to access medical marijuana for certain debilitating illness. The new legislation governing this industry allows for state certified Medical Marijuana Doctors to recommend cannabis treatments for chronic pain, among other similar ailments. With literally tens of thousands of Floridians now able to qualify, they are asking if cannabis is better than opioid to treat pain?
As you have certainly heard, millions of Americans today suffer with opioid addiction. It has been dubbed an epidemic that is taking lives and destroying families across the nation. Many people get prescribed pain killers for minor injuries, surgery, illness, disease, chronic pain and more. Some of these include Percocet, Vicodin, Oxycontin and Hydro-codone. The problem with this pain medication is that they are all highly addictive. Anyone (which is almost everyone) who has ever taken these opiates before surely knows, when you stop taking them regularly you can experience serious with drawl symptoms, which can be absolutely debilitating.
It's been proven this forces many people into addiction because the only thing you can do once addicted to opioids is go through the withdraws, go to rehab, or keep taking more of the drug. Unfortunately normal people who get caught up in opioid addiction end up moving onto more powerful drugs, overdosing and possibly dying!
Cannabis and opioids are both known for their analgesic, pain-relieving effects. Because they both block pain signals in the human nervous system. The THC cannabinoid molecule binds to the CB1 and CB2 receptors of the endocannabinoid system, and opioids bind to opioid receptors. This basic principal has been tested by leading marijuana engineers and doctors worldwide. Since THC and Opioid do the same basic thing in our bodies, they just do it differently. Patients are now saying marijuana is better than opiod medication to treat their chronic pain. Cannabis gives users the relief they need, without the side effects, or addiction that can come with opioids.
There are some drug treatment facilities who have actually been giving opioid addicted patients CBD cannabinoids to lesson their withdrawal symptoms and cravings. CBD is also highly effective in treating anxiety and depression issues related to opiod abuse. Patients are then given THC marijuana treatments with a low does of opioid in some cases depending on the level of pain a patient is suffering from.
This greatly improves the chances of opioid free treatments in the future. Since marijuana has no real side effects, it can be a life changing substitute for treating long term chronic pain. As of 2017 there have still been absolutely no overdoes deaths attributed to cannabis anywhere in the world ever!
We agree more re-search needs to be done on the long-term effects of cannabis use, but if you want a far safer, less addictive way to treat pain than typical opiod medication, try marijuana for your pain instead.
Marijuana, even for medical use is still technically illegal federally. This is a nuise around the industries neck, not allowing the proper access, or studies needed to progress marijuana's medical capabilities. Join the fight for full recreational marijuana on the 2018 ballet (The Florida Cannabis Act).
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