Health Marijuana Isn’t a Pain Killer—It’s a Pain Distracter

[tom_mai78101]

One of the chief arguments for the legalization of medicinal marijuana is its usefulness as a pain reliever. For many cancer and AIDS patients across the 19 states where medicinal use of the drug has been legalized, it has proven to be a valuable tool in managing chronic pain—in some cases working for patients for which conventional painkillers are ineffective.

To determine exactly how cannabis relieves pain, a group of Oxford researchers used healthy volunteers, an MRI machine and doses of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Their findings, published today in the journal Pain, suggest something counterintuitive: that the drug doesn’t so much reduce pain as make the same level of pain more bearable.

“Cannabis does not seem to act like a conventional pain medicine,” Michael Lee, an Oxford neuroscientist and lead author of the paper, said in a statement. “Brain imaging shows little reduction in the brain regions that code for the sensation of pain, which is what we tend to see with drugs like opiates. Instead, cannabis appears to mainly affect the emotional reaction to pain in a highly variable way.”

As part of the study, Lee and colleagues recruited 12 healthy volunteers who said they’d never used marijuana before and gave each one either a THC tablet or a placebo. Then, to trigger a consistent level of pain, they rubbed a cream on the volunteers’ legs that included 1% capsaicin, the compound found that makes chili peppers spicy; in this case, it caused a burning sensation on the skin.

Marijuana Isn’t a Pain Killer—It’s a Pain Distracter

A new study finds that under the influence of marijuana, the same levels of pain are simply less bothersome

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[FireCat]

LOL sound's so true!

 

[Nyph]

...And this then makes useless this : http://www.thehelper.net/threads/israeli-firms-new-medical-marijuana.157460/

 

[tom_mai78101]

...And this then makes useless this

Exactly.

 

[Varine]

It's also an effective homework distraction.

 

[FireCat]

 

[Snowbizzle]

The information in this article is outdated and essentially moot. Researchers determined long ago that THC itself had very little efficacy as a pain-reliever and that it in fact caused much of the anxiety and paranoia associated with smoking marijuana.

Marijuana helps relieve pain and reduce inflammation through its various cannabinoids (such as probably the most well-known one, CBD). These chemicals are different from THC, and although they, like THC, help to "distract" the user from his or her symptoms, they also help to treat the symptoms directly. This becomes especially true and useful when discussing marijuana tinctures, topical salves, and the like.

I'd be happy to provide articles concerning this if anyone is really interested, but I encourage you to research on your own. Please do not mistake THC for marijuana like the person who wrote this article did.

Edit: The article that Nyph linked previously is, for the record, not useless at all. As a matter of fact, it is far more useful than this article will ever be because it differentiates between THC and CBD and seeks to determine how each one can be useful in its own ways. Do we want medicine that can distract us rather than actually relieve our pain? Perhaps we should stick with THC-rich marijuana. Do we want medicine that can actually relieve our pain? Perhaps we should go with the Israeli research group and their CBD-rich strains. This Oxford group (and, more directly, the writer of the article) focused solely on THC and thus clearly either did not do their research or purposefully chose to overlook marijuana's myriad other chemicals and their usefulness. I would be interested to know if someone outside the university funded this because it sounds like another piece of propaganda designed to perpetuate a false conception of marijuana and its uses.

 

[Varine]

^ Who the hell is this guy? I mean obviously he's a stoner that refuses to accept weed isn't the fucking cure to everything, but seriously, has anyone seen him before?

 

[Snowbizzle]

Honestly I've probably been here longer than most. I just don't post because Firecat's responses are too annoying.

For the record, though, I'm fatmankev's friend.

Edit: I'd also ask that you try not to disregard the science or logic behind this just because you don't know me and don't like weed (if that is in fact your stance...I can't really tell).

Double-edit: Sorry Firecat, didn't mean to call you out like that. Really, it's almost everyone's responses...the guy above me being the case in point.

 

[Accname]

Honestly I've probably been here longer than most. I just don't post because Firecat's responses are too annoying.

For the record, though, I'm fatmankev's friend.

Edit: I'd also ask that you try not to disregard the science or logic behind this just because you don't know me and don't like weed (if that is in fact your stance...I can't really tell).

Double-edit: Sorry Firecat, didn't mean to call you out like that. Really, it's almost everyone's responses...the guy above me being the case in point.

Not longer then me! You cant defeat The Who Speaks In Tropes!
Just ignore varine, thats how we all do it.
And firecat, yeah ignore firecat as well. You can have some fun with him every now and then, but dont take him too seriously. Hes just trolling by passion.

 

[FireCat]

Ha don't worry about it Snowbizzle LOL Hmmm NO, I Don't Accname
Btw: What's wrong with Varine's post? Honestly "Varine" has mostly good points Well, NOT always but every now and then.

And weed don't cure anyone But it does distract your pain. It means "weed" turning your focus to something other than the pain. Really "what's so weird about that really?"

 

[Varine]

Edit: I'd also ask that you try not to disregard the science or logic behind this just because you don't know me and don't like weed (if that is in fact your stance...I can't really tell).

I have a name and I smoke weed all the time, and CBD relieves inflammation, it's not an analgesic. And I'm failing to see why you're so obsessed with it as a pain killer and not hyping the use of it to reduce cancer growth.

 

[Fatmankev]

I have a name and I smoke weed all the time, and CBD relieves inflammation, it's not an analgesic. And I'm failing to see why you're so obsessed with it as a pain killer and not hyping the use of it to reduce cancer growth.

The article is about it's effects as a painkiller/distracter, so he was commenting on that aspect. I'm sure he could go into more detail on its other effects, but they aren't as relevant to the article.

 

[Varine]

The article is about it's effects as a painkiller/distracter, so he was commenting on that aspect. I'm sure he could go into more detail on its other effects, but they aren't as relevant to the article.

And CBD still isn't an analgesic. It has beneficial effects, but it's use as a pain killer is still not there; it's effective to use to get your mind off of some level of pain, but even then only minor levels of it. Like it sometimes helps me with my back, but depending on the concentration of the chemicals (which obviously changes from strain to strain) it can amplify the nociception instead of blocking the second messengers to some extent. I can go into a significant amount of more detail tooif you wish, but I don't feel like writing a book right now.

 

[Fatmankev]

And CBD still isn't an analgesic.

Eh, he said 'probably [...], CBD.' I actually thought it did help with that, but Wikipedia and about two minutes of Google search didn't seem to yield anything substantial. Even if it's not CBD, you know there are patients out there that receive incomparable relief from whichever cannabinoids they are that countless pharmaceutical drugs didn't compare to for those individuals; and like you said yourself, a good smoke can help ease that back pain a bit. Either way, his point was definitely valid... they shouldn't talk about how cannabis affects the body when the only chemical being tested is THC. You can talk about what THC can do, but not weed on the whole.

 

[Varine]

There are very few people that any cannaboid would help relieve pain better with than an opiate, and those few people usually have some weird thing that makes other actual pain medications ineffective. And again, weed doesn't help them relieve pain - it can to some minor extents reduce inflammation, but that doesn't take away pain. And I said that other chemicals help with my back, not THC or CBD, and I also said that it doesn't make the pain go away, I just don't care as much, which is sometimes a better solution but again there are far more effective medications that do this, and sometimes it makes significantly worse. And his point ISN'T valid because he's saying that it's a pain killer. It is not. There are some chemicals in there that might have some effects like that, but it definitely isn't CBD, and even then CBD can be extracted and used aside from the content of THC, in higher doses that would make it a more suitable medication. Though I agree, as a whole you can't really talk about it, because there are thousands of strains that have chemical contents differing greatly, though typically it's bred for a high THC content, not CBD. So your weed that you go buy from your dealer down the street or from a medical marijuana dispensary is not an effective medication for actually reducing pain by any means. The only beneficial aspect of it that I can see above normal analgesics is that it isn't physically as addictive; but there are very few long term studies that have come to any substantial evidence of that. So, as far as I'm concerned, weed will remain something for entertainment like alcohol, though specific chemicals can be extracted or synthesized for use in medications, which will always be far more effective than smoking.

 

[TFlan]

Wikipedia and about two minutes of Google search didn't seem to yield anything substantial.

... That's a real point behind an argument.. "I couldn't find it on the first page of Google or in a quick scroll of Wikipedia, so it mustn't be right"

So, as far as I'm concerned, weed will remain something for entertainment like alcohol, though specific chemicals can be extracted or synthesized for use in medications, which will always be far more effective than smoking.

I have to disagree with your last statement. Weed will never solely remain for entertainment, and to say otherwise is to be pretty ignorant/naive, not to say you are either of those.

There are innumerable cases where marijuana has helped a patient with an array of "problems" (I'm going to use problems instead of the endless list marijuana has been accredited to prevent/treat/cure/subdue-symptoms/whatever).

However! Weed will never solely remain for medicinal use either, as the current social state and use of marijuana suggests (CO/WA as prime examples [WOO!]).

I have to concur with Snowbizzle's first post - this article/study isn't all-inclusive, but neither is it wrong - ultimately, what I believe the previous posters are trying to say is:

Don't take this article by itself

 

[Varine]

And they have been helped significantly more if the chemicals that aided whatever affliction was isolated and the dosage increased. Weed, as itself, is for entertainment; the beneficial effects can be synthesized or extracted for pure medicinal purposes, which will make them more potent and minimize the side effects. I personally don't take pain killers because I had a drug addiction several years ago and don't wish to take anything that I find addictive (and happen to know that most pain killers will be to me); weed is not so I use that, however typically I smoke it for fun. Actually pretty much always, and sometimes it helps ease my muscles, but I would prefer to take a more potent medicine that is comprised of the chemical compositions that help with that, rather than hope that whatever it is I bought will do that. Even if you look at the dispensaries, usually the strains are ALL bred for high THC content, not anything else (I've never seen them anyway); but that's because getting really high is what usually makes pain stop because you're not thinking about it anymore.

 

[Fatmankev]

... That's a real point behind an argument.. "I couldn't find it on the first page of Google or in a quick scroll of Wikipedia, so it mustn't be right"

You misunderstand. I was only pointing out that I have nothing to substantiate my claims so I won't bother making them.

I still feel that a study conducted on only one of many active chemicals in a substance shouldn't be used to categorize the efficacy of that substance as a whole. I'm not arguing that it's an analgesic, just that this particular study should be titled, "THC Isn't a Pain Killer - It's a Pain Distracter," not as it is; whether cannabis has these effects or not isn't what the study defined, it was specific to THC, and the title should reflect that fact.

 

[Varine]

Because the study IS NOT about the efficity of the individual chemicals. It's about whether or not marijuana is effective. And it's not. Marijuana is not THC or CBD or any other individual chemical strain. It's just marijuana, and you usually smoke it.