Many studies have found cannabinoids are integral to the body's pain mechanisms. Other studies suggest cannabinoids work with other pain medications like opiates to provide pain relief at lower dosages. In addition, patients with cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other ailments attest that marijuana helps ease their pain, often allowing them to cease or lessen the use of drugs with more profound side effects. The U.S. Society for Neuroscience has concluded that, "careful studies show that cannabinoids directlly interfere with pain signaling in the nervous system. The insights may lead to a new class of pain killers."

Joy, Janet E.; Stanley J. Watson, Jr.; John A. Benson, Jr., Eds. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Washington, DC: Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health, Institute of Medicine. 1999. 259 p. (Chapter 4 of this report contains sections on pain)

• "The available evidence from animal and human studies indicates that cannabinoids can have a substantial analgesic effect."
• The IOM report concluded that the following patient groups should be targeted for clinical studies of cannabinoids in the treatment of pain:
  • Chemotherapy patients, especially those being treated for the mucositis, nausea, and anorexia.
  • Postoperative pain patients (using cannabinoids as an opioid adjunct to determine whether nausea and vomiting from opioids are reduced).
  • Patients with spinal cord injury, peripheral neuropathic pain, or central post-stroke pain.
  • Patients with chronic pain and insomnia.
  • AIDS patients with cachexia, AIDS neuropathy, or any significant pain problem.
    

The 1998 U.K. House of Lords report says, "There is scientific evidence that cannabinoids possess pain relieving properties, and some clinical evidence to support their medical use in this indication. Many of our witnesses consider that high priority should be given to further research in this area."

Excerpts from the American Public Health Association (APHA) amicus brief in Conant v. McCaffrey, (2001 filing):

Marijuana is an effective painkiller.

Patients with various pain syndromes claim significant relief from marijuana.(29) In fact, British researchers have recently reported that cannabis extract sprayed under the tongue was effective in reducing pain in 18 of 23 patients who were suffering from intractable pain.(30) The validity of their experiences is corroborated by studies in which cannabinoids have been shown to be effective analgesics in animal pain models.(31) This is particularly true for patients suffering from neuropathic pain.

Neuropathic pain is a symptom commonly associated with a variety of illnesses or conditions, including metastic cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis (MS), and diabetes, and it can also be a side effect of the recommended treatments for various conditions.(32) Over 30% of patients with HIV/AIDS suffer from excruciating pain in the nerve endings (polyneuropathies), many in response to the antiretroviral therapies that constitute the first line of treatment for HIV/AIDS.(33) But, there is no approved treatment for such pain that is satisfactory for a majority of patients.(34) As a result, some patients must reduce or discontinue their HIV/AIDS therapy because they can neither tolerate nor eliminate the debilitating side effects of the antiretroviral first-line medications.(35) (See complete APHA amicus brief for footnotes.)

GW Pharmaceuticals Medical Uses Index on: Pain
GW is a pharmaceutical company developing a variety of prescription medicines derived from cannabis to meet patient needs in a wide range of therapeutic indications.
Also see GW Pharmaceuticals on: phantom limb pain, spinal cord injury, and fibromyalgia.

Also see phantom limb pain, spinal cord injury, fibromyalgia, etc. at GW Pharmaceuticals Research and Development Section

Legal Briefs

Amicus brief of the American Pain Society and the American Academy of Pain Medicine in McFadden v. Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure.

Doctors' Declarations on Pain

Books and Articles

Grinspoon, Lester, M.D. Marijuana, the Forbidden Medicine (revised and expanded edition). New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. 1997. 312 p.

Malfait, A. M., et al. "The nonpsychoactive cannabis constituent cannabidiol is an oral anti-arthritic therapeutic in murine collagen-induced arthritis." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2001. 97: 9561-9566.

Randall, Robert C., Ed. Muscle Spasm, Pain & Marijuana Therapy. Galen Press. 1991. 237 p.

Richardson, Jennelle Durnet; Kilo, Sonja; Hargreaves, Kenneth M. "Cannabinoids Reduce Hyperalgesia and Inflammation via Interaction with Peripheral CB1 Receptors." Pain. 1998. 75(1): 111-119.

Russo, Ethan. "Cannabis for migraine treatment: the once and future prescription? An historical and scientific review." Pain. 1998. 76:3-8.

Russo, Ethan. "Editorial: Cannabinoids in pain management." British Medical Journal. 2001. 323: 1249.

Russo, Ethan. "Hemp for Headache: An In-Depth Historical and Scientific Review of Cannabis in Migraine Treatment." Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics. 2001. 1(2): 21-92.

News

Klarreich, Erica. "Cannabis spray blunts pain: Early trials suggest cannabis spritz may give relief to chronic pain sufferers." British Association for the Advancement of Science. 4 Sept., 2001.

"Marijuana-Like Drugs May Be Effective Painkillers." Los Angeles Times. 26, Oct., 1997.

Schmeltzer, Wendy. "Chronic Elderly Pain." National Public Radio. 12, April 1998. 11:40. (Note: Click this link to download an audio file maintained on the NPR Website.)

Yi, Matthew. "Doctor found reckless for not relieving pain: $1.5 million jury verdict for family of cancer patient who went home to Hayward to die." San Francisco Chronicle. 14 June, 2001. 1(A).

Other Resources

Cannabis Research Library on Pain