A study has found that smoking cannabis in medium doses can ease induced pain in healthy people.
The placebo controlled study, led by Mark Wallace, M.D., professor of anaesthesiology at UCSD School of Medicine and Program Director for the UCSD Centre for Pain Medicine, was conducted on 15 subjects.
Cannabis
Cannabis has a long history of medicinal, recreational, and industrial use and comes from a bushy plant with thick sticky flowers called Cannabis Sativa
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In the study all the participants were healthy volunteers who inhaled either medical cannabis or a placebo after pain was induced.
The marijuana cigarettes were formulated under NIH supervision to contain either zero, two, four or eight percent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC.)
![Anti-depressant Turns Antagonistic at High Doses]( "Anti-depressant Turns Antagonistic at High Doses")
A new study has found that a synthetic form of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, is an effective anti-depressant at low doses. But at higher doses, the effect reverses itself.
In the research capsaicin, an alkaloid derived from hot chilli peppers that is an irritant to the skin, in order to ape the type of neuropathic pain experienced by patients with HIV/AIDS, diabetes or shingles, which is a brief, intense pain followed by a longer-lasting secondary pain, was used.
The analysis of the study showed that a low dose of cannabis had no effect on pain, while a medium dose provided moderate pain relief.
And, astonishingly, a high dose of cannabis increased the pain response.
Wallace said that the results suggested a "therapeutic window" for cannabis analgesia.
"Subjects reported a decrease in pain at the medium dose, and there was also a significant correlation between plasma levels of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, and decreased pain," Igor Grant, M.D., F.R.C.P.(C), professor and Executive Vice-Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, the director of the CMCR said.
"Interestingly, the analgesic effect wasn't immediate; it took about 45 minutes for the cannabis to have an impact on the pain," he said.
Grant noted from the study that cannabis had healing value when taken in medium doses.
"This study helps to build a case that cannabis does have therapeutic value at a medium-dose level. It also suggests that higher doses aren't necessarily better in certain situations - something also observed with other medications, such as antidepressants," he said.
The study will be published in the November issue of the journal Anaesthesiology.
Source: ANI
SRM /J
Anti-depressant Turns Antagonistic at High Doses
A new study has found that a synthetic form of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, is an effective anti-depressant at low doses. But at higher doses, the effect reverses itself.
Advertisement
In the research capsaicin, an alkaloid derived from hot chilli peppers that is an irritant to the skin, in order to ape the type of neuropathic pain experienced by patients with HIV/AIDS, diabetes or shingles, which is a brief, intense pain followed by a longer-lasting secondary pain, was used.
The analysis of the study showed that a low dose of cannabis had no effect on pain, while a medium dose provided moderate pain relief.
And, astonishingly, a high dose of cannabis increased the pain response.
Wallace said that the results suggested a "therapeutic window" for cannabis analgesia.
"Subjects reported a decrease in pain at the medium dose, and there was also a significant correlation between plasma levels of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, and decreased pain," Igor Grant, M.D., F.R.C.P.(C), professor and Executive Vice-Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, the director of the CMCR said.
"Interestingly, the analgesic effect wasn't immediate; it took about 45 minutes for the cannabis to have an impact on the pain," he said.
Grant noted from the study that cannabis had healing value when taken in medium doses.
"This study helps to build a case that cannabis does have therapeutic value at a medium-dose level. It also suggests that higher doses aren't necessarily better in certain situations - something also observed with other medications, such as antidepressants," he said.
The study will be published in the November issue of the journal Anaesthesiology.
Source: ANI
SRM /J
German Patient Approved to Use Cannabis for Treating Multiple Sclerosis
Claudia H has become the first German to be allowed legal access to cannabis to treat the multiple sclerosis (MS) she has been suffering from for 14 years.
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