Several techniques can help reduce stress and promote relaxation. Listening to soothing, calming music can lift your mood -- and make living with chronic pain more bearable.

The cannabis plant, Cannabis sativa, contains a number of active ingredients, including THC and CBD. THC, the most active ingredient of marijuana, is the component that makes a person high when either smoked or ingested. CBD, on the other hand, is not psychoactive: it doesn't induce a mind-altering effect.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing new guidance intended to help make people fully aware of the abuse or addiction possibilities of the prescriptions they’re taking. Drug Abuse and Dependence Section of Labeling for Human Prescription Drug and Biological Products - Content and Format doesn’t just deal with prescription medications that are scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Medications not scheduled under the CSA that have dependence potential are also addressed.

One state’s successful strategies for reducing the number of injured workers at risk for opioid addiction will be shared with workers compensation experts from around the country at the upcoming Workers Compensation Research Institute’s (WCRI) conference in Boston. In 2011, the OBWC found that more than 8,000 injured workers were opioid-dependent for taking the equivalent of at least 60 mg a day of morphine for 60 or more days. By the end of 2017, that number was reduced to 3,315, which meant 4,714 fewer injured workers were at risk for opioid addiction, overdose, and death than in 2011.