Opioids

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled that employees who use medical cannabis to treat a work-related injury cannot rely on workers comp insurance to cover it.

Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, pleaded guilty this week to illegally marketing its deadly and addictive opioid products. As part of its federal settlement, the company faces over $8 billion in penalties.

A former NYPD officer is suing the department after being forced into early retirement due to his status as a registered medical cannabis patient. The lawsuit alleges extreme instances of workplace harassment, disability discrimination, and retaliation.

New research from the University of California, Irvine has determined that cannabis is a safe and potentially effective treatment for the chronic pain associated with sickle cell disease.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has issued a call for lawmakers to federally decriminalize the low-level possession of all drugs.

The FDA has issued warnings to two CBD companies over claims that their products could treat opioid addiction and/or replace pharmaceutical drugs.

The UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative has been awarded a $3.9 million grant to investigate whether cannabis terpenes can help reduce the use of opioids in pain treatment.

Federal officials at the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have prohibited any federal funds meant to combat opioid addiction from being used on medical cannabis.

A new study by the Stanford School of Medicine appears to contradict a commonly cited 2014 study that suggested medical cannabis legalization leads to a reduced rate of opioid overdoses.

New Mexico has added six new conditions to the qualifying conditions list for the state’s medical cannabis program. The added conditions include opioid addiction, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and three neurological disorders.

Under a bill signed into law last week in Colorado, doctors can now recommend medical cannabis to treat any condition for which they might have otherwise prescribed opioids.

A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry has shown CBD to be effective in reducing the cravings of opioid addicts, with participants citing a two- to three-fold reduction in cravings on average compared to participants who received a placebo.

A proposal in Illinois would make the state’s medical cannabis program permanent and add 12 new conditions to the state’s qualifying conditions list.

In addition to the new legalization language being considered, the committee also advanced legislation to add opioid use disorder to the state’s medical cannabis qualifying conditions list.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has added opiate addiction as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis, effective immediately. The state has already seen 141 opioid overdose deaths in 2019.

Medical experts will study six new conditions to see if there is sufficient evidence for adding them to the state’s medical cannabis program.