Recently, new health regulations in the state of New York were announced allowing patients who had been prescribed with opium-based products such as Oxycontin to choose to use medical marijuana instead as a form of treatment. This would be used in the treatment of a wide array of ailments from cancer to HIV to chronic pain, all of which marijuana has been shown through what studies have been allowed to be done to help.

New York health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker called this a "critical step" in the fight against the opium epidemic as well.

Yet, this is also something of a "critical step" in the ongoing legalization movement as well. It seems after several years of certain states having marijuana legal for both medical and recreational use - nothing of any significance really happening, that the general public simply lost interest in whether or not the drug was made legal and in which states. This, ultimately, amounted in there is very little urgency in the passing of legislation either way and progress hauling with only a handful of states have legalized it for recreational use. Many others, such as New York, have allowed it to be used with a prescription for medical proposes as was mentioned.

Many who oppose the overall legalization of marijuana in any form often argue that even medical use of the drug can often lead to abuse as some may receive their prescription and proceed to sell it on the black market or distribute it to friends or family without the prescription. They also are known to claim that using it leads in turn to the use of other drugs which have far worse effects in the pursuit of a greater high. While there is little conclusive evidence to these claims, as well as common sense dictating that someone who has been prescribed marijuana to treat chronic pain or cancer would at least see little benefit in doing the former, these arguments have been shown to be very true of the substances that the New York Health Department initially proposed prescribing marijuana to help phase out.

Opioids, such as Oxycontin and others, have been prescribed for many years as treatments for a variety of conditions. People like to talk about how in the 1910s and 1920s cocaine was marketed, much in the same form it exists in today, as a sort of miracle cure. But the dispensing of these factoids gives the impression that medical science learned from that mistake and would never do something so irresponsible in our modern day. While for many other fields of medicine this is true, in this case, unfortunately, the opposite is the case. Many opioids sold dispensed today are synthetic, but their effects on the brain are as powerful if not more so than their street drug counterparts. In fact, those who are prescribed Oxycontin are 19 times more likely to start using street drugs such as heroin.

"The opioid epidemic in New York State is an unprecedented crisis," says Dr. Zucker, "and it is critical to ensure that providers have as many options as possible to treat patients in the most effective way."