Posted on 09/11/2010 7:35:57 PM PDT by neverdem
People with chronic pain who took just a puff of marijuana three times a day got some mild pain relief and, with rare exceptions, did so without getting high, a Canadian study reports. (Yes, they inhaled.)
The patients, who suffered from persistent nerve damage that did not respond to other pain drugs, also reported better sleep and less anxiety, the researchers said.
The study is one of the first randomly controlled clinical trials to test the pain-relieving properties of smoked marijuana and of its active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, said Dr. Mark A. Ware, a pain researcher at McGill University in Montreal who was lead author of the paper, published in The Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Twenty-one adult volunteers, all of them with intractable pain, completed the trial, which compared three different formulations of marijuana with various concentrations of THC along with a placebo version, a formulation with no THC at all...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It’s like any other med- I wouldn’t want a pilot on a muscle relaxant either.
alcohol affects different people different ways. some drunk people also become devil-may-care. others fly into rages at the smallest or even imagined provocations.
yeah, who’s talking about treating it as a no side effect remedy? some people would gladly give up driving, etc. as the price of being rid of monstrous pain. as long as they have the sense to know about it. if marijuana was in the pharmacopoeia still, its side effects would be respected.
Seventy-five percent (75%) support medicinal marijuana use, while only 14% say patients should not be allowed to smoke doctor-prescribed pot. Support for medical marijuana is even higher than it was in October, when 63% said it should be allowed.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/index.php/public_content/politics/general_politics/july_2010/43_say_marijuana_should_be_legalized_42_disagree
It does work very for that.I really wish they would do unbias research on it instead of starting with addicts and working their way back so that they always come to the same conclusions.It works for many many things much better than what the drug companies foist onto us.If I’m not mistaken doesn’t the Bible tell us that God has provided us with everything we need on this earth? :)
unbias=unbiased
This site has some interesting info regarding MS & more.
http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/
Not while on duty. Like alcohol or some other prescription drugs.
Dave’s not here.
There is no known way to objectively test for minor pain relief.
I think the real problem is that very little research has been done on its properties. I suspect two factors: 1, the fact that the feds banned it makes researchers a lightning rod for controversy, and the fact that Big Pharma won’t do much with it because they can’t patent it. That being said, for the patients whose suffering it relieves it is a gift from God, not unlike the coca leaves that help Andeans breath the mountain air, or the fermentation process that made our forebears’ water safe to drink.
You may have it confused with Gen 1:29
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,
The translation held up rather well, considering the eons of the centuries, don't cha think?
It is a GIFT.
My G_d is an AWESOME G_d!
“There is a remarkable sense of nonchalant apathy about everything that comes with pot, and it has a different quality than alcohol abuse.”
True. For instance there is much less violence associated with smoking pot than drinking.
“There is no known way to objectively test for minor pain relief.”
Is there some reason double blinded studies don’t work for pain relief?
If participants take something that neither they nor the caregiver know whether or not it’s marijuana or a placebo, and the patients taking marijuana show a statistically significantly greater reduction in pain than those taking a placebo, then wouldn’t that be an objective test for minor pain relief?
Thw AMA has tried to make pain assessment “the fifth vital sign”. Unfortunately, pain level is purely subjective- people experience the same pain stimulus differently. The way we assess pain is to ask the patient to describe it in some way. We do not, and can not, measure it directly.
If I give you anything desireable, you will probably believe that you have some minor pain relief due to the placebo effect or due to the distraction from pain a pleasurable event offers.
Does anyone doubt the result of a proposed study: “ Do professional male atheletes experience minor pain relief from oral sex therapy?”
This study says that the subjects didn’t get “high”, yet one of the common statements from those that do get high is that they are “feelin’ no pain”.
Is that you Dave? Open the door Dave!
“There is no known way to objectively test for minor pain relief.”
So what is it then whereby pain doctors ask the patient to rate their pain on a numeric scale?
Perhaps you missed the part where they said that the large majority were able to get pain relief WITHOUT getting stoned?
Let the pot users flame me, but this is another classic scientific finding to be used politically to pander for a voter class, ie, pot users.
My wife and I are not users, we dont even drink. This may be what you say, but I tell you, if this study bears out, I am going to look into it for my wife, who suffers with debilitating pain each minute of each and every day. I'm sure she will be interested.
I had stage IV lymphoma and 8 rounds of chemo. I don’t know which one caused me the lasting pain for the last 3+ years. 41 now and I hope a long life ahead of me. Some days I fear that the pain will take all the joys of life from me. If you don’t have pain all the time, I’m not sure people can understand. I have not smoked pot in 20+ years but if it was legal, I might try it. I live on tylenol, asprin, ibuprofen and minimal perscrip meds. Not where I wanted to be in life. But hey, I’m still moving. Smoke a stupid weed? Sure if it helped. Actually hell yes if it helped. But its not legal and could cost me my living so I won’t.
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