Pro

Pedro Oliveros, MD, Medical Director at the Physical Medicine & Rehab Center of Orlando, stated the following in his Feb. 9, 2018 article titled "Commentary: Medical Marijuana Can Help Reduce Our Opioid Dependency: Physician," available at orlandosentinel.com:

“As a physician, I have constantly searched for treatment options for my patients’ chronic pain. And until the Florida medical marijuana initiative passed with an astonishing 71.3 percent majority in 2016, I realized I had many misconceptions about the drug. With research, though, I learned that marijuana not only has multiple potential medical uses, but it also has fewer side effects compared to other medications…

In addition to pain relief, medical marijuana provides relief to the common conditions associated with chronic pain, such as anxiety/depression and insomnia. With medical marijuana, the pharmacological management for chronic pain can be simplified with lesser need to also prescribe medications for anxiety, depression and insomnia…

The addictive effect of marijuana is slight, and there is no risk of death with marijuana withdrawal.”

Feb. 9, 2018