Is THC the real painkiller in the cannabis plant? This medical study says YES!

There has been debate as to whether cannabis can help with pain. Users swear by it, while some people in the medical community consider it bullshit. What part of cannabis is also responsible for pain relief? A recent article published in New Scientist reports on a study looking at cannabis and pain management.

Most medicinal cannabis users take cannabis for pain relief, but since pain is a highly subjective experience, it’s difficult to scientifically assess whether it’s as effective as people claim. Not only did the new study find that cannabis actually relieves pain, but that THC is the only cannabinoid that really does it all.

However, despite the growing accessibility and popularity of cannabis products, research into their medicinal effects is limited. Several studies have shown that medicinal cannabis can relieve pain. To determine whether these products can specifically reduce chronic pain — defined as pain lasting three months or longer — and how the THC to CBD ratio affects their effectiveness, Marian McDonagh of Oregon Health & Science University and her colleagues used previous research scoured.

“We wanted to know if cannabis used to treat chronic pain had similar benefits [to opioids]? And of course, we really wanted to dig deep into the unwanted side effects, especially the more serious ones,” says McDonagh. – NEW SCIENTIST

The researchers singled out 25 studies from over 1,000 that adhered to their specific control conditions. The studies had to be 3-4 weeks long, include people with different types of pain, and none of the substances used could have been bought from a pharmacy.

At the end of this process, they had a sample group of about 14,000 people who showed that “some cannabis products offer minor to moderate pain relief and that those with a high THC to CBD ratio are most likely to relieve discomfort.”

In other words, they seemed to have shown that THC offers the greatest pain relief, while CBD itself hasn’t produced similar results.

“There’s so much hype about CBD actually being able to treat pain,” says McDonagh. “That might help later to clarify whether that’s true or not. There just isn’t enough evidence right now.”

The people who experienced the greatest benefits were those with neuropathic pain — the type of nerve pain that usually causes tingling and burning.

The researchers note that these are all preliminary results and, of course, more research would be needed — but it gives us a hint that people with chronic pain might be using cannabis to alleviate side effects.

Additionally, depending on the potency of cannabis, it could become the “first protocol” when it comes to managing chronic pain. By this I mean that medicine should always try to use the least invasive and least toxic approach first.

Compared to opioids, cannabis is a far less dangerous way to manage chronic pain, and considering that cannabinoids help stimulate the endocannabinoid system – it could also mean that healing and recovery could be faster.

health above all

It seems these days that if you stub your toe, you can be prescribed highly addictive drugs, or a lot of antidepressants, or any other type of pharmaceutical solution. I think as a society we should always try the healthiest option first.

That means we start with exercise and diet or therapy to deal with the problems. If that doesn’t work, plans like cannabis or even participating in things like yoga, meditation, or breathwork could be considered “medicinal.” Doctors should prescribe these practices when they see that the patient would have a long-term benefit rather than just ordering a few pills and popping them at certain times throughout the day.

That said, there is some justification when it comes to this news, and I believe if we can delve further into the wonderful world of weed, we’ll be surprised at how deep we get. This plant and humanity have a long history together… in a way, our organisms were designed to interact with each other.

Maybe it’s time we start realizing its full potential?

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