Category Archives: Cannabis – Medical Marijuna

Hemp Oil Studies for Pain Relief of Neuropathic Pain

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Karin Westlund High, PhD
Professor and Vice-Chair for Research
Department of Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
Albuquerque, NM 87106

PainRelief.com: What are the main findings?

Response: Nearly 1 in 5 Americans recently reported that their level of pain interferes with their daily lives. Treatment options for persons with chronic pain are not optimal, particularly opioid therapies found to exacerbate pain or become ineffective over time in patients and in animal studies. While some have turned to marijuana to relieve pain where it has been legalized, benefits of the pain relieving cannabinols are not suitable for many given the psychotropic effects of its tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content.

The Hemp Farming Act in 2019 effectively began legal cultivation in some states of a variety of the Cannabis plant—conventionally referred to as ‘hemp’. The primary components of hemp are the pain relieving cannabidiol (CBD) chemicals, differing from the content in their federally illegal counterparts which contain levels over 0.3% of the psychoactive THC. In  fact, it is reported that the content of CBD was bred down while THC bred up in marijuana seized in California  between 2001-2008.

Continue reading →

Chronic Pain the Most Common Reason People Use Medical Cannabis

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:

cannabis wikipedia image

Kevin Boehnke, Ph.D. Research investigator
Department of Anesthesiology and the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center
University of Michigan

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?

Response: Medical cannabis is legal in 33 states, and people can obtain medical cannabis licenses to treat a wide swath of conditions, including cancer, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, complications of Alzheimer’s disease, and nausea. Many observational surveys have found that many people use cannabis for chronic pain, but whether these surveys were representative of national trends was uncertain. To our knowledge, this was the first study that examined nationwide trends of patient-reported qualifying conditions based on medical cannabis state registries.

Continue reading →

Many Patients Prescribed Medical Marijuana for Pain Relief, Use the Cannabis for Recreational Use

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Meghan Rabbitt Morean, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Oberlin College
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Department of Psychiatry 
Yale School of Medicine
New Haven, CT 04519

PainRelief.com:  What is the background for this study?

Response: Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 33 states and the District of Columbia and recreational marijuana is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia (although it remains a Schedule I drug at the federal level).

Chronic pain is an approved condition for medical marijuana in all states in which medical marijuana is legal. However, there is concern that a sizeable percentage of medical marijuana patients also are using their medicine recreationally.

In the current study, we found that more than half (55.5%) of medical marijuana patients also reported using their medical marijuana for recreational purposes, which is similar to rates observed in a previous study.  

Continue reading →