Late Night Health

Is Marijuana a Viable Alternative to Opioid Use for Pain Management?Dr. Constance Scharff, the director of addiction research at the Cliffside Malibu addiction treatment center in Malibu, California, did not expect to be an advocate for medical marijuana legalization. But when she saw data indicating that states with medical marijuana laws showed a 25% decrease in opioid-related overdose deaths, she began to change her tune. It is estimated that in 2016, more than 50,000 people in the United States will die from accidental overdose. If 25% could be saved by legalizing medical marijuana, that would tremendous for thousands of families.How much pain should we tolerate? While the USA has 5% of the world’s population, we use at least 80% of the world’s pain medications. Part of this trend may be that Americans have developed an expectation to be pain free in all circumstances. But pain is a symptom of other issues, and those underlying issues need to be addressed.There are negatives to medical marijuana legalizat