Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids - Chronic Pain

As many as one in five Americans lives with chronic pain.[1] Many of these people suffer from neuropathic pain (nerve-related pain) -- a condition that is associated with numerous diseases, including diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and HIV. In most cases, the use of standard analgesic medications such as opiates and NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) is ineffective at relieving neuropathic pain.

Survey data indicates that the use of cannabis is common in chronic pain populations[2], and several recent clinical trials indicate that inhaled marijuana can significantly alleviate neuropathic pain. A pair of clinical trials recently demonstrated that smoking cannabis reduces neuropathic pain in patients with HIV by more than 30 percent compared to placebo.[3-4] (Additional details on these studies appear in the HIV section of this book.)

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