There is NO conclusive evidence that marijuana helps with chronic pain and PTSD, 20-year study finds

Daily Mail

There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana helps with chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, experts say.

Since legislation, 80 percent of medical marijuana patients use it for chronic pain and about 33 percent use it for PTSD.

However, experts warn that there isn’t enough research to confirm it is effective for users. 

Researchers around the country are scrambling to find evidence of the harms and benefits of patients using medical marijuana as it becomes legalized in more states.

And now they have found that there is still an insufficient amount of evidence to prove if medical marijuana can help with chronic pain and PTSD.

Researchers from the US Department of Veterans Affairs analyzed data into the treatment of chronic pain and PTSD in patients.

With chronic pain, the results in one clinical trial showed only 28 percent of participants feeling a change when using nabiximols, which is a mixture THC and CBD.

Also, there was 16 percent of participants who felt a change when taking a placebo.

This suggests psychological symptoms are possible when someone thinks they are feeling pain.

Experts also warn the use of marijuana for chronic pain could lead to an increase risk of harm such as motor vehicle accidents, psychotic symptoms and short-term cognitive impairment.

Dr Thomas O’Brien, who has run his own medical marijuana office in New York City for the past year-and-a-half, told Daily Mail Online that he’s seen high success rates from his patients dealing with chronic pain.

The type of marijuana he gives to his patients is high in CBD, so he says it doesn’t have the psychotic symptoms that critics worry about.

‘My patients do not feel sleepy or experience memory loss when they take it,’ Dr O’Brien said.

The marijuana he prescribes is from an indica-dominant strain. This means there is high CBD and low THC, which he says won’t give patients the same ‘high’ feeling that is felt from recreational marijuana.

He will prescribe a dose with a higher level of THC only if his patient’s symptoms are so bad that they can’t sleep.

He works with his patients to figure out the best mixture for them and their symptoms based on a spectrum level.

‘They are in pain and suffering from their conditions,’ Dr O’Brien said. ‘This is not recreational.’

Dr O’Brien has worked with more than 600 patients and claims that close to 90 percent have seen success.

‘The key is to educate the community that it is not like you’re going out back and sneaking a puff.’

In a large observational study of veterans, the researchers found an increase in participants who experienced a heightening of their PTSD symptoms when using medical marijuana.

The study looked at evidence from 47,000 veterans dealing with PTSD from 1992 to 2011.

From this group of veterans, the researchers could not conclusively say that medical marijuana has benefits when dealing with people with PTSD.

US Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin said: ‘My opinion is, is that some of the states that have put in appropriate controls, there may be some evidence that this is beginning to be helpful. And we’re interested in looking at that and learning from that.’

But the VA does not prescribe medical marijuana to its veterans currently.

‘Until the time that federal law changes, we are not able to be able to prescribe medical marijuana for conditions that may be helpful,’ Shulkin said.

Marijuana is legal for medical and recreational use in eight states: Massachusetts, Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, California and Maine.

It is also legal for strictly medical use in the District of Columbia and 21 states: Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware and Hawaii.

The study notes that there is still a lack of evidence and clinical trials to conclusively say there are benefits or harms to medical marijuana.

Former Surgeon General Dr Vivek Gupta released a report in November saying: ‘Marijuana is in fact addictive.’

But he supported the idea of easing up restrictions on marijuana studies to help better understand the drug since its legalization is moving fast through the US.

Dr O’Brien said part of the issue was people not understanding the difference between the use of THC and the use of CBD.

‘It is very safe [CBD],’ he said. ‘We need to study it for other medical conditions that haven’t been approved by the states yet.’

The restrictions on marijuana studies are partly due to the Drug Enforcement Agency’s hesitation on allowing medical marijuana across the US.

Last year, the DEA said it would accept applications for new growers to be used for clinical trials and other studies.

Currently, there is only one federally regulated operation that studies marijuana use and it is at the University of Mississippi.

There have been 25 applicants so far to host a new grow operation but none have been approved yet, according to Scientific American.

This has led to many critics saying that the DEA is still trying to slow down the research into medical marijuana to prevent its use federally.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4789388/Medical-marijuana-does-not-help-chronic-pain-PTSD.html#ixzz4poqNqpCZ
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