Marijuana and its cannabinoid components may be useful treatments for various types of chronic pain, in some cases helping to reduce the use of other medications, according to a newly published scientific review. The paper also says select mixtures of cannabinoids could help minimize undesirable effects of cannabis, such as the psychoactivity of THC.
Published last month in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids and authored by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, the paper reviews “the most recent evidence supporting the use of cannabis in the treatment of chronic pain disorders including chronic neuropathic pain, cancer-induced neuropathic pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain, and chronic headaches and migraines.”
All told, more than 180 different cannabinoids have now been isolated from the cannabis plant, the report notes, often interacting with different parts of the body. CBD and THC, for example, “have a wide potential for therapeutic effects based on their multiple molecular targets including ion channels, receptors, transporters and enzymes.”
“The two most abundant and studied cannabinoids, THC and CBD, along with an understudied cannabinoid, cannabigerol (CBG), have been shown, in our laboratories, to reduce neuropathic pain” authors wrote, recommending that further study “into cannabinoids like THC, CBD and CBG should focus on the optimal therapeutic doses and the effects these cannabinoids can have on the management of chronic neuropathic pain in humans.”
“Chronic neuropathic pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain (back pain), and neurogenic syndromes (migraines) can be debilitating and resistant to treatment,” it continues. “Current treatment approaches are inadequate producing minimal to no relief from pain in many cases or are accompanied by limiting side effects. Cannabinoids can help suppress chronic pain by interacting with cannabinoid receptors in the central nervous system, PNS [peripheral nervous system], and the generalized ECS [endocannabinoid system].”
While marijuana has experienced numerous cultural shifts in its thousands of years of history as a medicinal remedy, its use has increasingly received acceptance and—in medical settings—encouragement in recent decades, authors wrote.
“Most modern research has focused on the phytocannabinoids produced by the plant which have been found to help minimize chronic neuropathic pain and mitigate other disorders including seizure conditions (e.g., Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes) and spasticity in [multiple sclerosis],” the paper says. “This review has provided scientific evidence supporting the use of cannabis as an adjuvant in the treatment of chronic pain which could also lead pain reduction to the point of minimizing other pharmacological treatments.”
Additionally, it concludes, cannabinoids “can be used in combination to lessen the undesirable side effects or increase the analgesic effects of prescription medications. An example of this is the use of CBD to attenuate the psychoactive effects produced by THC.”
