A new study has revealed that deaths caused by opioid overdose in the USA go down directly after the legalisation of recreational cannabis. The study also showed that states which changed their cannabis legislation earlier experienced an even greater decrease in deaths than others that did so once the opioid epidemic had gained momentum.
The authors, from several universities across the USA and the think tank American Institute for Economic Research, wished to examine how much of an effect cannabis has had on overdose deaths. The study, titled “Because I Got High?”, was published to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) in December last year and found that cannabis legalisation was “associated with a decrease of approximately 3.5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.”