SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HelloMD, a leading digital healthcare platform for medical marijuana patients, announced today they are launching the largest patient survey concerning pain, opioid use and cannabis ever performed. Performed in collaboration with University of California Berkeley, HelloMD will ask 100,000 of its registered participants questions regarding cannabis and how it has affected their use of opioids. The company is following up on their landmark "Medical Marijuana Patient Survey Results" study of 17,000 patients, conducted in January 2016.

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Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, and so have sales of these prescription drugs. From 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people have died in the U.S. from overdoses related to prescription opioids, (CDC). The opioid epidemic reached critical proportions with 18,893 people dying from overdoses in 2014 alone.

"Opioid use and overdose statistics are staggering and should bring pause to every American," said Dr. Perry Solomon, Chief Medical Officer of HelloMD. "In partnering with the University of Berkeley, along with other esteemed colleagues, we hope to better understand how and why these dependencies are coming to be and how cannabis may affect the patient's use of opioids, among many other findings needed to help curb this epidemic."

The study will be led by Amanda Reiman, PhD, MSW, Lecturer in the School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley and Manager of Marijuana Law and Policy for the Drug Policy Alliance, Perry Solomon, MD, Chief Medical Officer for HelloMD, Mark A. Welty, Ph.D., NCC, LPCC-S, LSW, Kent State University, Adjunct Faculty, Welty Counseling and Consulting, CEO, The Village Network, Director of Research and Innovation, The Ohio Patient Network, Board of Directors, and Chris Janson, PhD, Chair, Associate Professor, Department of Leadership, School Counseling, & Sport Management, University of North Florida.

Amanda Reiman states:

"It is imperative that we investigate alternatives to opiates for the treatment of pain. Cannabis has been used for thousands of years across cultures. There is no reason to exclude it from treatment options, and even less of a reason to discriminate against those who choose it as the best treatment for themselves."

The study is expected to be completed later this year with results published in early 2017.

About HelloMD

HelloMD is the leading digital healthcare platform for medical cannabis patients. Medical cannabis consumers anywhere, or those considering using cannabis, can ask questions online and get answers quickly from its community of doctors, experts and product manufacturers. The platform also provides for easy, convenient online video access to physicians (daily, 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. (PST)) for medical cannabis consultations, recommendations to qualifying patients, product advice and more. For more information about HelloMD, visit www.hellomd.com, or follow us on Facebook (@HelloMDcompany) and Twitter (@HelloMD_com).

About UC Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley is one of the world's premiere research institutions and was recently named the number one public university in the nation by US News and World Report for the 17th year in a row.

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