A study in the journal, Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, has found that legalizing cannabis has led to a “marked decline” in the volume of opioids prescribed across Canada. It notes that the findings support the hypothesis that easier access to cannabis for pain may reduce opioid use for both public and private drug plans. George Dranitsaris is a pharmacist by trade, he has a PhD in Health Economics and is Principle Consultant of a research consulting pharmacy group in Toronto called Augmentium Pharma Consulting. He is the lead authors of this study and joined Newsday to discuss the findings.
