A groundbreaking study finds cannabis is not a gateway drug — and it can be used in the treatment of alcohol and opioid abuse.
By: Claire Bernish / The Free Thought Project
In the latest of dozens of studies proving the healthful benefits of cannabis, researchers in Canada found not only can marijuana be effective in managing pain, but it can reduce a user’s dependency on tobacco, alcohol, and can replace a number of prescription medications — including antidepressants.
Weed, they also found, simply isn’t the “gateway drug” politicians and detractors have claimed it is for decades.
Published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, the study — comprised of 271 participants enrolled in Canada’s Marihuana for Medical Purposes program — is considered one of the first to evince how cannabis can help alleviate substance addiction.
“[T]his study is the first to specify the classes of prescription drugs for which cannabis is used as a substitute, and to match this substitution to specific diagnostic categories,” the study findings state.