Tag: Sleep Aids

Joining 23 other states who are reaping in more tax revenue, less illegal drug market and more help for the medically fragile, Ohio voters go for legal marijuana.   For the first time, 52% of Americans live in a legal cannabis state.  And Pew Research says 90% of citizens believe cannabis should be legal in some form.

According to BDSA, a leading cannabis data analyst firm “despite having only a few years of legal sales under its belt, the Ohio cannabis market has exhibited strong early growth that indicates continued expansion for the future. BDSA projects that Ohio will launch adult-use cannabis in 2025, contributing an estimated $300 million in that year alone.”

RELATED: California or New York, Which Has The Biggest Marijuana Mess

Like alcohol, marijuana is popular for with a majority, but unlike alcohol, it has clear medical benefits including a clear alternative pain relief solution from opioids. It has also shown clear promise with PTSD. With 7.5% of Ohio being veterans or their family, this is positive health news.

“Marijuana is no longer a controversial issue,” said Tom Haren, spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “Ohioans demonstrated this by passing State Issue 2 in a landslide. Ohioans are being extremely clear on the future they want for our state: adult-use marijuana legal and regulated.”

As a citizen-initiated statute, the law is subject to change. The GOP Legislature, who opposed the popular move, are able to make changes to the law, or repeal it. It will be interesting to see if elected officials listen to the voting public or prefer to move Ohio to a nanny state like Florida.

Ohio Republican leaders who failed to convince Ohioans that legal marijuana will endanger children, increase traffic accidents and create headaches for employers trying to hire. Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, have indicated the Legislature will look at the new law and make changes.

RELATED: How Does Marijuana Affect My Sleep And Dreams?

As with some states, there is still a a hard road ahead, but it looks like, mid-term, voters will get what they requested.

Cannabis has been used for pain relief and to promote sleep for thousands of years. Over the past several decades, a therapeutic role for cannabis in mainstream medicine has increasingly emerged.  Research into the benefits of cannabis for sleep has shown some progess with many people report using cannabis as a sleep aid.  Yes, people are choosing marijuana over sleep aids because they tend to work better with less side effects.

A study demonstrates this way of thinking is not at all uncommon, showing less people are purchasing over the counter sleep medications when they have access to legal marijuana.

The study, published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine, was conducted by researchers from the University of New Mexico and California State Polytechnic University. These scientists looked into retail data collected from the Nielsen company in order to understand how legal marijuana in Colorado affected the sales of over the counter sleep medications. Nearly 600 stores (587) were analyzed, and recreational dispensaries from different counties were also sampled.

RELATED: How Using Marijuana Can Effect Your Sleep Patterns

“For the first time, we show a statistically significant negative association between recreational access to cannabis and OTC sleep aid sales, suggesting that at least some recreational purchasers are using cannabis for therapeutic rather than recreational purposes,” says the study.

The study explains even if there’s no clinical evidence that supports marijuana as a sleep aid, people are still taking matters into their own hands, causing a significant reduction in the use of over the counter sleep medications.

“Our results are consistent with evidence that legal access to medical cannabis is associated with reductions in Scheduled II-V prescription medications (e.g., opioids and sedatives), many of which may be used in part as sleep aids,” say the authors.

RELATED: How Does Marijuana Affect My Sleep And Dreams?

While changes such as this one mean that marijuana is a trusted alternative medicine from a variety of users, the fact that there isn’t enough science to back up these claims means that the people responsible need to catch up. The more that marijuana is embraced, the bigger risks the general population will be willing to take. This isn’t a problem with over the counter sleep medications, which aren’t all that serious, but it might become an issue with other types of conditions.