By Rosalind Early, Scene on January 29, 2023

Pharmacies in states with legal adult-use marijuana purchase less prescription codeine.

States that have legalized adult-use marijuana have a significant reduction pharmacy-based codeine prescriptions a new study shows. The study was published January 19 in the Journal of Health Economics.

Using data from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration which tracks controlled substances across the U.S., the study looked at 11 states that had legalized adult-use cannabis between 2010 and 2019. Researchers found that there was a 26 percent reduction in “pharmacy-based distribution of codeine” and after four years many states experienced as much as a 37 percent reduction.

– Read the entire article at Scene.