Day, Cheyanne L.2024-01-112024-01-112023-05https://dspace.husson.edu/handle/20.500.14298/89Cannabis has been medicinally used for thousands of years. It has been studied extensively for many years and is now legal in thirty-eight states due to its analgesic properties and potential to reduce opioid addiction. Chronic pain affects an estimated fifty million adults in the United States, and in the next ten years, it will cost over ten billion dollars annually. As a result of the high number of opioid prescriptions leading to overdoses and deaths, many policymakers, clinicians, and providers are considering alternative pain management options. This Capstone Project aimed to explore and analyze the most current scientific and empirical evidence relating to medical cannabis as an alternative treatment to opioids for chronic pain. The question that guided the project was, in adults 18 and over, does the use of medical cannabis, compared to opioids, result in improved pain management within a six-month period? Evidence suggests that cannabis is a promising alternative to opioids and supports medical cannabis as a treatment option for chronic pain management. As a result of this research, it is hoped that current and future providers can apply it to their practice when treating chronic pain.en-USAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United Stateshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Capstone