Recommended For YouPowered by SailThru Civic Center 420 Festival Lineup Announced; No Smoking or Politics Planned Denver Officials Tell Pot Industry How to Get Up to Code Drug Free America Believes Legal Weed Exploits the Opioid Epidemic Thomas Mitchell EXPAND Drug Free America Believes Legal Weed Exploits the Opioid Epidemic Thomas Mitchell | March 10, 2018 | 7:17am Advocates often say that legal marijuana has the potential to combat America's opioid crisis, but anti-pot groups are claiming just the opposite. DFA isn't the only anti-pot group that believes legal marijuana will increase the opioid problem. "The marijuana lobby is pushing states to expand medical marijuana access to include opioid use disorders. A recent report from Smarter Approaches to Marijuana and the Marijuana Accountability Coalition also claims a link between legal marijuana and opioid use, and both blame "big marijuana" as the culprit. "The National Institutes of Health data on opioid deaths completely debunks that myth.