In an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Dr. Mehmet Oz, famously known as Dr. Oz, said that there is a “hypocrisy around medical marijuana” and suggested that cannabis “may be the exit drug” to pull the U.S. from the “narcotic epidemic.”
“But we’re not allowed to study it because it’s a Schedule I drug,” said the host of “The Dr. Oz Show.” “I personally believe it could help.”
“Fox and Friends” host Steve Doocy, an outspoken prohibitionist, said that he had “never heard that before;” however even the federal National Institute on Drug Abuse has acknowledged the effects medical cannabis legalization could have on prescription opioid use outcomes.
Two other studies this year have also found cannabis as a potential substitute for opioids. A University of British Columbia and University of Victoria-led study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy found 63 percent of the 250 patients in the study were using cannabis as a prescription drug substitute, and 30 percent of those said they were using cannabis as a substitute for opioid-based pharmaceuticals.
Another survey conducted by HelloMD and the University of California Berkeley found that 97 percent of 3,000 participants “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that they could decrease opioid use by using cannabis therapies instead.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and neurosurgeon who hosted a three-part documentary on the news network, suggested last year on an episode of “Late Night with Seth Myers” that prohibiting access to medical cannabis therapies is “immoral.”
This isn’t the first time, however, that Oz has explored medical cannabis as an exit drug – he touched on the issue in an Oct. 7, 2016 episode of the “Dr. Oz Show.”