medical marijuana effective for pain relief
Medical marijuana still elusive in Alberta
CBC NewsSmoking marijuana might ease some types of pain, as a new scientific study has found, but that's only if you can manage to get some of it.
Simonne LeBlanc, executive director of AIDS Calgary, said that while a number of her clients find marijuana to be an effective treatment for the pain and nausea associated with HIV, it's tough to come by legally in Alberta.
"It's really difficult to find a physician that will prescribe it," LeBlanc told CBC News on Tuesday.
"I think there would be a lot more people on it if more physicians were willing to do their prescriptions around them."
Marijuana effective for pain relief, study finds
By: Anne-Marie Tobin, The StarSmoking pot can make some of the pain go away, without the patient getting high.
The finding comes from what researchers in Montreal believe to be the first outpatient clinical trial of smoked cannabis, involving 21 people with chronic neuropathic pain.
The results, which included improvements in mood and sleep, were published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Dr. Mark Ware and colleagues at McGill University and McGill University Health Centre got the ball rolling for the study almost a decade ago, but found it was a long road to get all the necessary approvals and import a convincing marijuana placebo from the United States.
Smoking marijuana relieves some pain: study
CBC NewsSmoking marijuana does help relieve a certain amount of pain, a small but well-designed Canadian study has found.
People who suffer chronic neuropathic or nerve pain from damage or dysfunction of the nervous system have few treatment options with varying degrees of effectiveness and side-effects.
Neuropathic pain is caused by damage to nerves that don't repair, which can make the skin sensitive to a light touch.
Cannabis pills have been shown to help treat some types of pain but the effects and risks from smoked cannabis were unclear.
Marijuana effective in reducing pain, study shows
By: Caroline Alphonso, Globe and MailA team of Montreal researchers has lent scientific credibility to the view that smoking marijuana can ease chronic neuropathic pain and help patients sleep better.
People suffering from neuropathic pain often turn to opioids, antidepressants and local anesthetics, but those treatments have limitations and the side effects can be punishing. Many physicians and policy-makers, however, are reluctant to advocate the use of cannabis since there has been little scientific research into its effectiveness, even though patients champion its use.
Pot lowers chronic pain even without the high: Study
Briefly inhaling cannabis three times a day eases a kind of chronic pain that affects tens of thousands of Canadians — without making them high — Montreal researchers are reporting.
The new study, the first clinical trial in the world to allow patients to take marijuana home with them and "self-dose," found that for people with neuropathic pain — a common and dreaded condition that causes electric, stabbing pain — smoking cannabis reduced pain, improved mood and helped them sleep.
Up in smoke
By CHARLIE FIDELMAN, The GazetteChris's pain relief lies in half a cookie made with marijuana, eaten every two hours, plus one or two puffs off a joint on the hour and the occasional pot lollipop.
Chris started using legal marijuana, furnished by Health Canada, to dampen constant pain and improve sleep and mood, after a violent car accident shattered the bones in his face.
He switched to pot once standard prescription drugs like Dilaudid and OxyContin failed. Marijuana was his last hope.
Smoking marijuana effective for mild pain relief
By QMI Agency, Toronto SunA small dose of marijuana can help reduce pain, improve sleep and reduce anxiety, a landmark study published today has found.
"Our results support the claim that smoked cannabis reduces pain, improves mood and helps sleep," write the researchers from McGill University in Montreal.
In what is being heralded as the first study in which the effects of smoking cannabis were studied — albeit on a small group of only 23 participants — the study is now hoping to examine long-term effects of cannabis consumption.
