OPIOIDS, CANNABIS & CHEMISTRY

DRUG-OVERDOSE DEATHS in the United States rose to record numbers in 2019 and are still climbing. Last year saw nearly 72,000 Americans die from overdoses, and 2020 has shown a 13 percent increase, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The opioid crisis reached nightmarish proportions long ago—but the most chilling aspect of these statistics isn’t just the number of deaths; it’s also the way this epidemic started and has continued to thrive for nearly three decades. There have been many contributing factors to the opioid crisis that we see today, including how many physicians blindly prescribed opioids for pain, how opioid addiction led to an increase in black-market sales, and how political and corporate pharmaceutical greed extended the crisis for decades. While methadone eventually began to be used as a form of treatment for addiction, a substance such as CBD offers even more benefits without the risk of pharmaceutical dependence.

As society begins to abandon cannabis-research restrictions, High Times spoke to a few key innovators who formerly operated in the pharmaceutical industry and have shifted their focus toward how cannabinoids can help treat opioid addiction._**

“CBD IS NOT EXPECTED TO CREATE PHARMACOLOGICAL DEPENDENCE. THAT NEEDS CLINICAL PROOF TO MEET FDA STANDARDS,