New Mexico Advisory Board Votes ‘Yes’ on Treating Opioid Addiction with MMJ
A state advisory board that makes recommendations to the Health Department on New Mexico’s rapidly expanding Medical Cannabis Program voted 5-1 Friday in favor of adding “opiate use disorder” to the list of conditions that qualify, a move one health professional said could transform the state’s landscape of addiction.
If state Health Secretary-designate Lynn Gallagher adopts the new recommendations — she has the final word — thousands more New Mexicans will become eligible for the already exploding medical marijuana program. Officials say it has grown over the past year by 76 percent, to nearly 33,000 patients from 18,600.
For decades, New Mexico consistently has ranked at the top or near the top among states for its rate of opioid drug use and overdose deaths. Anita Briscoe, an Albuquerque-based advanced practice registered nurse who proposed allowing people to use cannabis as an opiate addiction treatment, said the effort could help change...
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