A law in Colorado will let doctors prescribe marijuana instead of opioids. Gov. Jared Polis signed the legislation this past week.
It expands the list of medical conditions that qualify for marijuana subscriptions to include conditions that can be treated with opioids.
“Colorado loses a community member to drug overdose roughly every nine hours, with opioids contributing to over half those deaths. Those deaths are preventable,” Polis was quoted as saying during the bill signing. “In light of these statistics, it is incumbent on our lawmakers to provide physicians with opportunities to discuss alternatives to opioids and to provide patients with choices even if additional research regarding medical marijuana is necessary.”
However, some critics worried that the law will result in unnecessary pot prescriptions.
“Our real concern is that a patient would go to a physician with a condition that has a medical treatment with evidence behind it, and then instead of that treatment, they would be recommended marijuana instead,” physician Stephanie Stewart told the Denver Post.
