Budding research indicates marijuana could reduce overdose deaths

published on April 23, 2024 by Sam Bennison in CKPGToday.ca

PRINCE GEORGE— Nadine Furnell suffers from chronic pain due to being in six motor vehicle accidents. She was initially prescribed Lyrica for pain management but she says the side effects were too much to bare.

“I was on a nerve pain blocker, called Lyrica, which has a lot of really yucky side effects,” says Furnell, a director for the B.C. Craft Cannabis Co-op. “It’s not a nice medication to be on. I didn’t like the way that I felt when I was taking that medication.”

In an effort to manage the pain without the undesired side effects she turned to using cannabis. Research shows that cannabinoids are an effective pain relief medication and in some cases may be able to be used as a replacement to other medication including opioids.

Additionally, observational research from the University of British Columbia (UBC) shows that some drug users are using cannabis instead of more dangerous illicit street drugs…