Thanks for the question. There were actually a couple in there.
One of them is that when we're talking about chronic pain in the United States, we also know—and we have an entirely different health care system than you do—that the amount of opioids being prescribed for pain in the United States is much, much higher than in Europe, for example. So it isn't that opioids are the only answer to chronic pain. In fact, we have to offer other things. It's true for acute pain too. If people come into an emergency department with a broken leg or sprained ankle, certainly things like ice or ibuprofen.... There are a number of other medications that could be used—not prescribing opioids.
A lot of what we're talking about is a change in expectation between a quick response, which is a pill, and something that might take longer. Certainly, physical therapy for chronic pain, for example, takes a lot longer. The idea is that there isn't one size that fits all. We have to look at a variety of things.
In Oregon, of course, we had one of the first medical marijuana programs, along with California, and we recently legalized the retail sale of cannabis or marijuana. It turns out that a lot of people who are buying retail, as you mentioned, aren't doing it just because of the psychoactive effects that they're interested in, but also for pain. They might be buying a salve to use for arthritis, etc.
The problem is, how do we get data on how much people are replacing, if you will? Are you using cannabis instead of opioids? How much? Anecdotally, we know that people say they are trying to taper off opioids and are replacing the treatment with cannabis, but that's just anecdotal.
In my mind, that's clearly an area where we need a lot more data and science. Unfortunately, in the United States, it's very hard to get that because, as you know, cannabis is a schedule I substance at the federal level. In terms of who is using what and what are the long-term effects, we really aren't even allowed to do research protocols related to people in chronic pain if you give some an opioid and others cannabis. That's an area where we really need a lot more data.