According to researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, a treatment method has been created for chronic pain using cannabis without risk of addiction. For their study, researchers used a rodent model to study the function of two types of cell membrane receptors which naturally occur in the body and bind cannabinoids. With chronic pain affecting over roughly 30 percent of the U.S. population Opioid use and addiction has run rampant in the country due to doctors over-prescribing opioid medications to treat chronic pain. Researchers add that the next step in the study is to explore brain circuitry, which could lead to a new class of pain medications.