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The latest stats from the province say that 718 Ontarians died from opioid overdoses in 2015. A McMaster emergency room doctor believes that the solution to treating this crisis is with medical marijuana.

For years, Dr. Ira Price has had a front row seat to the city’s opioid crisis

“In the emergency departments, seeing an increase in the rise of opioid overdoses and intoxication and patients that wanted alternatives but we didn’t know where they were.” Dr. Ira Price.

Price deviated from his medical training and uncovered the benefits of medical marijuana. His first Synergy health clinic opened in 2010 where he prescribed cannabinoids to people suffering from various illnesses including opioid addiction. Price says about 50% of his patients have ditched opioids for medical marijuana.

“The devastation that you get with opioids you don’t have with cannabis, patients are going back to work, people are able to function in society they’re able to sleep.”

Both patient and doctor hope that once marijuana’s medical benefits are better understood and accepted, insurance companies will cover people who need the treatment.