In 1991, a congressional report from the US Dept of Health and Human Services stated: “Given the large population of marijuana users and the infrequent reports of medical problems from stopping use, tolerance and dependence are not major issues at present.”

The main point here is that marijuana may cause psychological dependence, but not physical and physiologic dependence. Narcotics cause both and even if a patient is able to overcome the psychological attachment to the drug, the simple fact that the side effects are harsh may prevent going “cold turkey” or being able to stop at all.

Thankfully marijuana does not act in that fashion. Even after long term heavy use, there is minimal if any physiologic reaction upon cessation. Marijuana acts on the brain in a different pathway than opiate medications – mail order weed online. This may allow medicinal marijuana being utilized to effectively decrease the amount of opiates patients need for pain control, and in some cases entirely replace them.

Also, medical marijuana has a psychoactive effect of decreasing anxiety and improving mood. This is different than opiates, where patients may see a decrease in pain but also may see a depressive effect. This helps explain why so many chronic pain patients need to take anti-depressant medication along with the narcotics.