Cannabis and Pain; a long story that has just started
Cannabis has been used as a therapeutic treatment for millennia; it’s a fact that it was part of some of the most used natural remedies in many different cultures such as the Ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans.
Cannabis has been around since the beginning of humanity, as it was believed that it was an efficient treatment for various issues. Various findings have shown that the first uses date back to Ancient China, and it seems to have appear after the reign of Emperor Shen Nung.
History and Use of Mecicinal Cannabis
The use of cannabis for medicinal purposes has been expanding around the world for centuries now; in fact, it used to be sold in pharmacies as a tincture for its supposed efficiency at venereal diseases, stomach issues, coughs, hemorrhages and other symptoms.
This all changed with the arrival of synthetic medicines that were more stable and could be injected, which ended up pushing cannabis out of pharmacies. Additionally, at the start of the 20th century there was a campaign against cannabis, in which it was blamed for causing aggressive and unlawful behavior amongst consumers, known as the war on drugs. Its use was prohibited in 1961 around the world, under the argument that cannabis had no therapeutic properties.
Fortunately, it seems that this process is currently being reversed, and there are more and more countries and states that regulate the use of cannabis for medicinal uses. While the debate surrounding therapeutic cannabis is still alive, research into its medicinal properties are ongoing and are rapidly showing evidence that cannabis has great results in many pain-related issues.
Cannabis and Chronic Pain
There are three types of chronic pain; neuropathic, nociplastic and nociceptive. Chronic pain is incredibly difficult to treat and tends to be worse depending on the age of the patient; in order to treat such issues, opiates are often prescribed which can have many risks associated to it.
According to an article published in The Journal of Pain, done by the American Pain Society (APS), there is evidence to suggest cannabis has therapeutic effects when it comes to treating different issues; it can help with urinary disfunctions, anxiety, PTSD disorder, migraines and IBS.
This study provided alternative results to one done by the IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain) which indicate that the results obtained from various investigations into cannabis and pain don’t provide evidence to confirm the efficiency and safety of it in order to approve its use.
Andrew Rice, president of the IASP has declared that, although the safety of using cannabinoids to treat pain can’t be confirmed, he doesn’t deny that patients have truly found relief with its use.
Either way, Professor Rice doesn’t mean that cannabis isn’t beneficial for certain illnesses or symptoms, what he means is that more xhaustive studies should be done on phyto-cannabinoids as well as synthetic cannabinoids. More rigorous research should be able to determine the regulation of medicinal cannabis and guarantee safety for patients.
Another study, published in the Jama Internal Medicine magazine brings relevance to the safety of cannabis compared with opiates, as the secondary effects produced by the first are a lot lighter in comparison. Additionally, there has never been a vase of overdosing due to cannabis in the history of humanity, and the risks of addiction are significantly lower.
Investigation Obstacles
One of the biggest issues that prescription cannabis for chronic pain issues is that the correct dose can be hard to know; the concentration and purity of the ingredients is needed in order to know how to efficiently and safely treat issues.
Ingesting cannabis isn’t completely harmless, which is why it’s important for ill people to know doses to avoid issues such as fast heart rates or hypertension.
In order to know the correct dose and use of certain cannabinoids, various things have to change in order to favour its medicinal use, such as increased funding and backing for researching and testing its pain relief capacities.
Nowadays, many of those those that experience an improvement in their symptoms thanks to medicinal cannabis have to use it without regulation and without knowing the exact quality of it. It’s also necessary for a medical professional to inform patients of the risks associated with smoking or vaping cannabis.
The biggest issue that medicinal cannabis is faced with is the stigma surrounding it, categorized as a drug and therefore much harder to investigate and research within legal parameters.
According to Dr. Natalie Schmitz, director of the Carbone Cancer Center faculty, there’s still a lot to learn about cannabinoids, their medicinal qualities, therapeautic properties etc, specifically because none have been done.
Dr. Schmitz, alongside her coworker Barry Gidal, directs a class that studies the use of cannabinoids as pharmaceuticals; this subject analyzes how cannabis has been excluded from the world of pharmaceuticals and medicine in general. Additionally, it attempts to combine the vision of oncologists, pharmacists and psychiatrists.
This class also deals with the need for health workers to be better acquainted with the therapeutic properties provided by cannabis, as there are many patients that currently use this plant to alleviate pain, so it’s important to know the correct doses, how it could interact with other medicines, secondary effects etc.
Latest studies done on medicinal cannabis
According to a study done in Israel in 2021 and published in the European Journal of Pain, the effects of treatment for chronic pain were studied, using 551 patients that suffered from the issue and who were using medicinal cannabis to help. The effects were evaluated after the first, third and 12th months. The results concluded that the patients had had a positive response, as their pain had been reduced by at least 20%, and the use of morphine also went down by 42%.
In some countries where the use of medicinal cannabis is allowed, such as the US, a webpage has been created where doctors and healthcare workers can check recent studies done on the therapeutic effects of cannabinoids.
This tool is available to researchers in order to obtain information regarding medicinal cannabios, allowing these researchers and doctors to possibly provide a better treatment for their patients. This tool allows cannabinoid use to be as advised as any other substance.
The page includes posts about clinical studies and tests; this information is examined and updated periodically, and contains information about substituting opiates for cannabis in order to treat chronic pain.
Your experience with cannabis and pain
Even though many studies have been done, as well as many studies being done right now in order to find out more about the medicinal properties of cannabis (as well as how to use it correctly for each case), the cannabis industry has spent years trying to make people aware of this plants’ medicinal properties.
On the other hand, practically all consumers have experienced first hand the power that cannabis has to treat certain pains, or issues related to sleep, as well as many other illnesses.
Thousands of products and strains are available, each with different effects and for specific issues thanks to the knowledge that this sector has been able to acquire.
Now all that’s left is to keep researching these substances in order to clarify the exact way to use cannabis compounds that are beneficial (cannabinoids, terpenes etc).
Have you used cannabis to relieve pain? What was your experience? Let us know below; the experience of cannabis consumers is always useful, we’re slowly learning so much more about the power of nature in medicine.
We hope you enjoyed this post, until next time!
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