“The treatment of chronic pain has relied heavily on opioids, despite their potential for addiction and overdose and the fact that they often don’t work well when used on a long-term basis,” said Helene Langevin, M.D., director of NCCIH. “There’s an urgent need for more effective and safer options.”
According to 2018 data collected by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 128 people in the United States die each day from an opioid overdose.
Though marijuana has been around and in use for hundreds of years, research into the depth of the healing powers of this plant are only just now picking up speed.