[/caption]MONTREAL - GHN News - "This kind of pain occurs more frequently than many people recognize,
and there are few effective treatments available. For these patients,
medical cannabis is sometimes seen as their last hope."
Recent research has found marijuana to be useful in the fight against
pain, at least to a modest extent. And for certain types of pain that
couldn't be helped by anything else, it proves especially effective.
A small trial study by the research department at McGill University
in Montreal, showed promising results with marijuana. The most potent
dose actually reduced average daily pain scores. by 0.7 points,
according to Mark A. Ware, lead researcher.
In addition people
reported sleeping better who smoked weed with 9.4 percent of the active
ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) r, the researchers reported
online.
Neuropathic pain is especially relieved by marijuana use. Results of
the groundbreaking study are published in the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
"This
is the first trial to be conducted where patients have been allowed to
smoke cannabis at home and to monitor their responses, daily," says
Ware.
Low doses (25mg) of inhaled cannabis containing approximately 10% THC
(the active ingredient in cannabis), smoked as a single inhalation using
a pipe three times daily over a period of five days, offered modest
pain reduction in patients suffering from chronic neuropathic pain (pain
associated with nerve injury) within the first few days. The results
also indicated that the drug improved patient moods and helped them with
sleep. Results were less pronounced in milder strains with less than
10% THC.
"The patients we
followed suffered from pain caused by injuries to the nervous system
from post-traumatic (e.g. traffic accidents) or post-surgical (e.g. cut
nerves) events, and which was not controlled using standard therapies"
explains Dr. Ware.
followed suffered from pain caused by injuries to the nervous system
from post-traumatic (e.g. traffic accidents) or post-surgical (e.g. cut
nerves) events, and which was not controlled using standard therapies"
explains Dr. Ware.
"This study
marks an important step forward because it demonstrates the analgesic
effects of cannabis at a low dose over a shot period of time for
patients suffering from chronic neuropathic pain," adds Dr. Ware.
The National Pain Foundation
finds, "Millions of people in the United States suffer from chronic
pain, and much of that suffering cannot be relieved adequately by
existing treatments. Patients are in desperate need of new pain
management approaches. Cannabinoid medicines appear very promising,
although the subject often is obscured by controversy, prejudice, and
confusion in part because cannabinoids have some relation to the
cannabis plant – also known by the slang term marijuana."
[...] It appears there is sufficient business potential with the growing number of states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes for training in how to be successful in the drug [...]
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