The Close Association Between Marijuana and Opioids
A short video casts a whole new light on the relationship between marijuana and opiates/opioids like heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone and hydrocodone.
The video first features the director of a pregnancy center in Pueblo, Colorado, Tamra Axworthy. She comments that because of legalization of marijuana, more women she encounters in her work are admitting to drug use during pregnancy.
The video then features Dr. Elizabeth Stuyt, the medical director for the Colorado Mental Health Institute. She discusses the results of some examinations made of the brains of fetuses from pregnancies that were aborted or lost to miscarriage. A comparison was made between the brains of the fetuses of marijuana-using mothers and those that did not use marijuana during pregnancy.
This examination showed that the opiate receptors—the cells in the brain most adapted to accepting and responding to the effects of these drugs—were more plentiful and active in the developing brains of the fetuses of marijuana-using women.
Axworthy adds that 80% of the women being seen at the pregnancy center have been using drugs and that for nearly all of them, that drug is marijuana.
Finally, Dr. Stuyt points out that while overprescribing by doctors was heavily involved in the spread of opioid overuse, misuse and addiction, the increase in opioid problems also parallels the increasing legalization of marijuana.
You can view the full video here
What Are They Really Saying?
Their two testimonies together offer a rather chilling look at our national drug situation. Could marijuana use by a mother really make opioids more urgently appealing to the next generation? If this connection turns out to be true, every mother who smokes marijuana or consumes cannabis products could be setting their children up for real problems in the future. For these youth, opioids could have an irresistible pull once they are sampled.
If you interview a lot of people who had problems with opioids, you’ll hear some of them make comments like this: “The first time I tried (heroin, painkillers or other opioid), I was instantly addicted.” For some people, that’s how it goes. One taste and they have to have that drug again and again.
Could marijuana use have set these people up for addiction to opioids? Would this relationship only apply to mothers and their offspring or would it apply to a single individual as well? Only properly done studies will tell us.
The Only Real Answer
That brings us to our basic philosophy. The best, happiest and safest life is one that is 100% sober. No marijuana, no opioids, no Suboxone or methadone or any other drug.
The Narconon drug rehab program has been helping those who lost the ability to lay down drug for good regain control over their actions and decision. The result is a productive, enjoyable and sober life. Contact Narconon Ojai when someone you care about needs help for excessive alcohol use or addiction to drugs. The Narconon program has been helping people regain the ability to enjoy their new, sober lives for more than fifty years.
