Could Marijuana Replace Opioids as a Painkiller?

The heavy marketing and widespread access to opioid pills sparked a national crisis that's now labeled a “public health emergency” by the U.S. government. Last year, some 60,000 Americans died of drug (including opioid) overdoses—that's some 12,000 more than traffic-related deaths in the same year. As physicians look for new, less harmful, ways to manage their patients' pain, could medical marijuana be the answer--or the makings of another public health crisis?