Medical Cannabis for Pain Conditions

Medical cannabis has been shown to relieve chronic pain, improve the quality of life, and help individuals manage their symptoms.

Patients may be given pain relievers by their GP and yet discover they are ineffective in treating their pain.

These drugs can be extremely potent pain relievers that have far side effects. These can’t always help patients manage their pain, so they must look for other options.

Medical cannabis, for example, can relieve pain by utilising phytocannabinoids, a lipophilic molecule that interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS). The endocannabinoid system is a network that interacts with the body’s central and peripheral nervous systems. In a nutshell, this means that phytocannabinoids have enormous pharmacological potential.

One study from 2021 in the United Kingdom, ‘Drug Science Project Twenty21: Europe’s first and largest national medical cannabis registry,’ found evidence that patients suffering from chronic pain exhibited a significant reduction in pain symptoms when treated with medical cannabis.

A publication in Drug Science, ‘Medical Cannabis Improves Patients’ Quality of Life More Than Any Other Treatment For Chronic Neuropathic Pain,’ backs up Project Twenty21’s claim. The authors, David J. Nutt, Lawrence D. Phillips, Michael P. Barnes, Brigitta Brander, Helen Valerie Curran, Alan Fayaz, David P. Finn, Tina Horsted, Julie Moltke, Chloe Sakal, Haggai Sharon, Saoirse E. O’Sullivan, Tim Williams, Gregor Zorn, and Anne K. Schlag reported the results of a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) which found that medical cannabis is among the most effective treatments for people with long term, problematic neuropathic pain.

Furthermore, opioids are frequently prescribed to treat chronic pain. Experts are already recommending medical cannabis as an alternative to opioids for minimising the risk of addiction and other undesirable side effects. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which recently published recommendations against the use of opioids for patients with chronic pain, recognised the need for alternative therapeutic choices.

Opioid-related mortality in the United Kingdom surged dramatically in 2014, reaching new highs. The University of Bath has commissioned research into the dangers of opioid usage and found that opioid misuse has increased in lockdown across England and Wales as patients are simultaneously being administered larger doses of these drugs. Dr Jenny Scott leads the project.

Read about how to get a prescription for cannabis medicines.