The 28 states that allow for the use of medical marijuana have seen a reduction in the number of prescriptions for Medicaid enrollees -- and it could very well be because of those laws, according to academic research published in the May issue of Health Affairs.

Ashley C. Bradford and W. David Bradford, a student and a professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia, investigated the association between medical marijuana laws and prescription drug spending in fee-for-service Medicaid programs of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the years 2007 through 2014.

The researchers used state drug utilization data to measure prescription spend for FDA-approved drugs used to treat clinical conditions for which marijuana might be a potential alternative treatment: anxiety, depression, glaucoma, nausea, pain, psychosis, seizure disorders, sleep disorders and spasticity.