Prescriptions for dangerous alternatives to OxyContin are soaring, showing that a crackdown on the popular painkiller has failed to curb Canada’s opioid crisis.

OxyContin, a brand-name version of oxycodone, was once the top-selling long-acting opioid in Canada. But it became a lightning rod in the early 2000s as reports of addiction and overdose exploded, prompting every province except Alberta in 2012 to stop funding the drug and its reformulated, tamper-resistant version, OxyNEO, which is difficult to crush or chew for a quick high.

Similar restrictions were not placed on other addictive opioids, a move many experts say had the unintended consequence of shifting patients from one drug to another and escalating the prescription-drug crisis.

Clinical trials have begun to see if cannabis-infused chewing gum could be used to relieve pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients.

A number of multiple sclerosis sufferers have turned to marijuana to ease the pain and symptoms of the debilitating disease.

A New York-based biotech company is hoping that some relief from the pain and spasticity of MS is just a stick of cannabis gum away.

After being disappointed with lawmakers, a local man is asking the community to help legalize medical marijuana in North Dakota. Ray Morgan, a Fargo man suffering from severe back pain is leading the fight.

He’s asking the community to sign a petition. He's formed a committee of 25 people, and if they get approval from the Secretary of State they can start collecting signatures. They need 13,500 people need to sign on. If they get that, you will be able to vote for or against legalizing medical marijuana on the November 2016 ballot.

Government body says vaping can make ‘significant contribution to endgame of tobacco’ and raises concerns about length of licensing process

Vaping is safer than smoking and could lead to the demise of the traditional cigarette, Public Health England (PHE) has said in the first official recognition that e-cigarettes are less damaging to health than smoking tobacco.

The health body concluded that, on “the best estimate so far”, e-cigarettes are about 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes and could one day be dispensed as a licensed medicine in an alternative to anti-smoking products such as patches.

Research on marijuana’s potential for medicinal use has been hampered for years by federal restrictions, even though nearly half of the states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana in some form.

$1.1 billion of the $1.4 billion that the National Institutes of Health spent on marijuana research from 2008 to 2014 went to study abuse and addiction. Only $297 million was spent on its effects on the brain and potential medical benefits for those suffering from conditions like chronic pain.

How scientists study the effects of marijuana on the brain is changing. Until recently marijuana research largely excluded tobacco users from its participant pool, but scientists at the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas have found reason to abandon this practice, uncovering significant differences in the brains of individuals who use both tobacco and marijuana and the brains of those who only use marijuana.

Marijuana’s effects can vary from person to person, and scientists are not quite sure what to make of the common distinction users and growers make between cannabis sativa and cannabis indica.

As a psychoactive substance, cannabis has various cognitive effects at the point of use, which generally fade within a few hours. With heavy, long-term use, more permanent cognitive effects may result, although the consensus on this within the scientific community is shaky.

PITTSBURGH — In room 716 of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 12-year-old Hannah Pallas is motionless, but for an occasional turn of her head and blink of her eyes, following a series of life-threatening seizures. On the same day, 5-year-old Sydney Michaels is down the hall in room 749, waiting to be discharged after 15 grand mal seizures within 36 hours.

Their mothers have known each other for years, though it's a hapless coincidence caused by their daughters' epilepsy that brings them to the pediatric unit on the same day.

Nearly a year after the state's six medical-marijuana dispensaries opened, patients are changing their habits.

For quick relief, they are smoking marijuana less and inhaling its vapours and therapeutic oils more, those in the industry say. Others are eating cookies or placing strips with the various active ingredients into their mouths to alleviate pain, nausea and seizures associated with the growing list of ailments.

Prices that a year ago were markedly more expensive than the underground market have dropped sharply and are now competitive, according to dispensaries, state officials and market analysts.

"When I started having success, I took the oil," said William McDonald, 42, of Monroe, referring to CBD extract, which does not induce a high.