US states that allow medical marijuana see drop in prescriptions for other drugs, study finds

American states that allow patients access to medical marijuana are seeing fewer prescriptions per doctor for pharmaceutical drugs in several disease categories where marijuana is a potential treatment, a study in Health Affairs has found.1

Proportionally, the greatest reduction was in medicines for spasticity. The average physician in a state without medical marijuana prescribed 2068 doses, but in states with access to medical marijuana this fell by 20% to 1645 doses. The apparent effect was also marked in seizure medicines. The average physician in a state without medical marijuana prescribed 9368 doses, but in states with medical marijuana access this …