Senator Elizabeth Warren Asks The CDC To Research Marijuana To Alleviate The Opioid Epidemic

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Senator Warren is urging the Center for Disease Control to consider the role that legal medical cannabis could play in addressing the crisis of painkiller overdoses and addiction in the United States.

Warren is asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research how medical and recreational marijuana might help alleviate the opioid epidemic.

In a letter sent Monday to CDC head Dr. Thomas Friedan, Warren pushed for the agency to finalize its guidance to physicians on the dos and don'ts of prescribing oxycodone, fentanyl, and other popular drugs in this category.

Going one step further, Warren told Friedan "To explore every opportunity and tool available to work with states and other federal agencies on ways to tackle the opioid epidemic and collect information about alternative pain relief options."

Warren also wants the CDC to research "The impact of the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana on opioid overdose deaths."

The use of prescription opioids doubled between 2000 and 2014, according to the CDC. And Massachusetts, Warren's home state, experienced its highest number of unintentional opioid overdose deaths in 2014, with nearly 1,100 people succumbing to overdose deaths.

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