Smoking pot relieves chronic pain
2010-08-30 21:30
Ottawa - Smoking cannabis can relieve chronic neuropathic pain and help sufferers sleep, researchers said in a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday.
Smoking pot also improved their mood, said the researchers led by Mark Ware at McGill University in Montreal.
Twenty-one participants in the study were asked to inhale marijuana smoke three times daily for five days.
Each suffered from post-traumatic or postsurgical neuropathic pain, caused by nerves that do not heal, for which there are few treatment options.
"A single inhalation of 25 mg of 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol herbal cannabis three times daily for five days reduced the intensity of pain, improved sleep and was well tolerated," the study concluded.
Less potent cannabis yielded "intermediate but non-significant degrees of relief", it added. "We found no differences in mood or quality of life" in those cases.
The most common adverse effects of the drug - found to be negligible - were headaches, dry eyes, a burning sensation in areas of neuropathic pain, dizziness, numbness and coughing.