Medical Marijuana, Pain, and Suffering

Neuropathic Pain

A spray version of THC is approved in Canada to treat neuropathic pain associated with Multiple Sclerosos (MS),  Canada was the first country in the world to approve Sativex, a spray taken by mouth that is derived from components of the cannabis plant, which has been shown to have therapeutic properties.  Health Canada approved Sativex in 2005 for sale as a prescription pharmaceutical product under the country's Notice of Compliance with Conditions (NOC/c) policy.

This authorization reflects the positive nature of the clinical evidence, which will be confirmed with further studies, say UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals and Bayer HealthCare in a joint statement. Products approved under the NOC/c policy have demonstrated promising benefit, are of high quality, and possess an acceptable safety profile based on a benefit/risk assessment for the approved use, they note.  See the section on HIV/AIDS for a study on marijuana to treat neuroparhic pain in AIDS patients.
 

Opioid dependence

Injections of THC eliminate dependence on opiates in stressed rats, according to a French research team at the Laboratory for Physiopathology of Diseases of the Central Nervous System in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. Deprived of their mothers at birth, rats become hypersensitive to the rewarding effect of morphine and heroin, and quickly become dependent. When these rats were administered THC, they no longer developed typical morphine-dependent behavior. In the striatum, a region of the brain involved in drug dependence, the production of endogenous endorphins was restored under THC, whereas it diminished in rats stressed from birth which had not received THC. Researchers believe the findings could lead to therapeutic alternatives to existing substitution treatments.

In humans, drug treatment subjects who use cannabis intermittently are found to be more likely to adhere to treatment for opioid dependence. Historically, similar findings were reported by Clendinning, who in 1843 utilized cannabis substitution for the treatment of alcoholism and opium addiction and Birch, in 1889, who reported success in treating opiate and chloral addiction with cannabis.

Alzheimer's disease

Research at Scripps Research Institute in California shows that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, prevents the formation of plaque deposits in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. THC was found to prevent an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase from accelerating the formation of "Alzheimer plaques" in the brain more effectively than commercially marketed drugs. THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer’s patients, as reported in Molecular Pharmaceutics.


HIV/AIDS

Marijuana can have multiple positive effects for AIDS patients.  Investigators at Columbia University published clinical trial data in 2007 showing that HIV/AIDS patients who inhaled cannabis four times daily experienced substantial increases in food intake with little evidence of discomfort and no impairment of cognitive performance. They concluded that smoked marijuana has a clear medical benefit in HIV-positive patients. Another study in 2008 at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine found that marijuana significantly reduces HIV-related neuropathic pain when added to a patient's already-prescribed pain management regimen and may be an "effective option for pain relief" in those whose pain is not controlled with current medications. Mood disturbance, physical disability, and quality of life all improved significantly during study treatment. Despite management with opioids and other pain modifying therapies, neuropathic pain continues to reduce the quality of life and daily functioning in HIV-infected individuals. Cannabinoid receptors in the central and peripheral nervous systems have been shown to modulate pain perception. No serious adverse effects were reported, according to the study published by the American Academy of Neurology.

 

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