The statistics are staggering:
- Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids quadrupled since 1999.
- From 1999-2014, more than 165,000 people in the U.S. died from overdoses related to prescription opioids.
- In 2014, 18,893 people died from opioid overdoses.
Opioid abuse touches every corner of this country—the soccer mom who started taking Xanax to help get her through the day, the grandfather next door who had his knee replaced, the high school cheer captain who injured her back and was prescribed Vicodin for the pain, the teen who was warned against drinking and found an alternative in his mother’s medicine cabinet. Opioid abuse is color blind; it knows no race, religion, age, gender or social class. It wears a million faces.
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HelloMD Joins UC Berkeley to Conduct Study
With the guidance of the University of California, Berkeley, we’re following up on our landmark Medical Marijuana Patient Survey Results with this—the largest patient survey ever performed concerning cannabis, pain and opioid use. We’ll ask approximately 100,000 patients questions regarding cannabis and how it affects their use of opioids.
The study will be led by:
- Amanda Reiman, PhD, MSW, lecturer in the School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley and manager of Marijuana Law and Policy for the Drug Policy Alliance
- Perry Solomon, MD, HelloMD’s chief medical officer
- Mark A. Welty, PhD, NCC, LPCC-S, LSW, Kent State University, Adjunct Faculty; Welty Counseling and Consulting CEO; The Village Network, director of research and innovation; The Ohio Patient Network, board of directors
- Chris Janson, PhD, chair, associate professor, Department of Leadership, School Counseling, & Sport Management, University of North Florida.
How Does Cannabis Affect Opioid Use?
Together, we hope to better understand how and why increasingly more people are dependent on opioids and how cannabis may affect people’s use of opioids.
RELATED: MARIJUANA EFFECTIVELY CONTROLS CHRONIC PAIN
HelloMD is taking a step to help loosen the grip that opioid addiction holds on our country, while hoping to shatter the stigma and shame that often accompanies this dependence. The results of these findings will be available to the public during the first quarter of 2017.
If you’re new to cannabis and want to learn more, take a look at our Cannabis 101 post. HelloMD can help you get your medical marijuana recommendation; it’s easy, private and 100% online.
