Researchers found the benefit to be another $30 million to the economy based on reduced criminal justice costs.

Although there is little clinical evidence that marijuana can be a substitute for opioids to treat pain — in part because marijuana usually cannot legally be studied as a medicine — the researchers used studies available to determine about 75% of people who will seek medical marijuana would do so for pain treatment.

Researchers determined some lives would be saved from opioid overdoses, based on the percentage of people currently on opioid pain medication who would switch to marijuana.

“Despite the lack of federal-level research on the topic, our conservative estimate found a wide range of benefits, including reduced jail sentences, arrests and court cases, while also providing another tool to tackle the opioid crisis,” said Jennifer Johnson, one of the researchers.

Another major factor in the economic benefit to the state is the number of people who would be willing to pay for medical marijuana.