The 28 states that allow for the use of medical marijuana have seen a reduction in thenumber of prescriptions for Medicaid enrollees -- and it could verywell be because of those laws, according to academic researchpublished in the May issue of Health Affairs.
Ashley C. Bradford and W. David Bradford, a student and aprofessor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy atthe University of Georgia, investigated the association betweenmedical marijuana laws and prescription drug spending infee-for-service Medicaid programs of all 50 states and theDistrict of Columbia for the years 2007 through 2014.
The researchers used state drug utilization data to measureprescription spend for FDA-approved drugs used to treat clinicalconditions for which marijuana might be a potential alternativetreatment: anxiety, depression, glaucoma, nausea, pain,psychosis, seizure disorders, sleep disorders and spasticity.
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Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience, with particular expertise in employee benefits and other human resource topics.
