[caption id="attachment_11849" align="alignleft" width="120" caption="Marijuana plant"]
[/caption]Carol Forsloff - While states like Oregon and Washington seek to legalize marijuana beyond just medical use, new research has found a plant compound similar to marijuana that can help control pain without the side effects.
According to a study in the July issue ofAnesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of theInternational Anesthesia Research Society (IARS)the synthetic cannabinoid (cannabis-related) compound, called MDA19, seems to avoid the side effects that are the complaints of those opposing marijuana because it acts mainly on one specific subtype of the cannabinoid receptor.
"MDA19 has the potential for alleviating neuropathic pain without producing adverse effects in the central nervous system," according to the study by Dr Mohamed Naguib of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
So what is this treatment that can help control pain and what does it do?
Research on rats showed MDA 19 reduces certain types of neuropathic pain. It is also said by researchers to be a " promising step toward developing medications that have the pain-reducing effect of cannabinoids while avoiding the mental and physical side effects of marijuana itself."
They do say, however, more research will be needed before MDA19 or other agents that act on the CB2 receptor are ready for testing in humans.
"These elegant studies by Professor Naguib demonstrate remarkable analgesic properties for this synthetic cannabinoid,” comments Dr. Steven L. Shafer of Columbia University, Editor-in-Chief of Anesthesia &Analgesia.
"The studies suggest a novel mechanism for this protean agonist. Although preliminary, these studies suggest that synthetic cannabinoids may be significant step forward for patients suffering from neuropathic pain."
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