Impact of Medical Marijuana Legalization on Opioid Use, Chronic Opioid Use, and High-risk Opioid Use

To determine the association of medical marijuana legalization with prescription opioid utilization. A 10% sample of a nationally representative database of commercially insured population was used to gather information on opioid use, chronic opioid use, and high-risk opioid use for the years 2006-2014. Adults with pharmacy and medical benefits for the entire calendar year were included in the population for that year. Policy makers could consider medical marijuana legalization as a tool that may modestly reduce chronic and high-risk opioid use.