Medical marijuana is saving at least $165M per year in Medicare costs already

A recent study in the journal Health Affairs showed that legalizing marijuana, for medicinal purposes, has joltingly inspired economies, presenting $165 million in savings in 2013, alone.

The authors of the study, a father-daughter team at the University of Georgia, looked at over 87 million prescriptions from the Medicare Part D database, focusing on conditions where marijuana “might serve as an alternative treatment.” These conditions included anxiety, depression, glaucoma, nausea, pain, psychosis, seizures, sleep disorders and spasticity.

In states where medical marijuana was legal, there were less prescriptions written in eight of the nine categories (though weed did offer a reduction in swelling for glaucoma, it was only temporary and other prescriptions were made).

Stunningly, in states with medical marijuana laws physicians gave out 3,645 fewer pain prescriptions per doctor.

Today there are 24 states with medical marijuana legalized.  This study indicates that US citizens would save hundreds of millions of more dollars in medicare costs if it were legalized in all 50 states.