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Chronic pain is one of the most common ailments that MMJ patients are suffering from and using medical marijuana to alleviate its symptoms. MC Caregivers has multiple cards made describing how medical marijuana can help many different diseases and ailments. We took the time to make these as we feel it’s important to help educate ourselves our patients and those who are unfamiliar with the positive attributes of medical marijuana. The following is taken from our Chronic Pain card.

Chronic Pain
As many as one in five Americans live with chronic pain. A large number of them suffer from nerve-related pain. Such diseases may include diabetes, cancer, migraines, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS. Survey data indicates that the use of cannabis is common in chronic pain diseases and several recent clinical trials indicate that inhaled cannabis can significantly alleviate pain. A pair of clinical trials recently demonstrated that smoking cannabis reduces neuropathic (nerve) pain in patients with HIV by more than 30 percent compared to a placebo.

Chronic pain is generally treated with opioid narcotics such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone, methadone, and other synthetic analgesics. Many of these drugs are addictive and some patients actually build a tolerance to them over time. Other patients complain of the incapacitated state that many of these drugs induce.

Like opiates, cannabinoids block the pain pathways of the central nervous system but through a differ¬ent neurochemical signaling system. Many patients find that cannabis can reduce or even replace the opiate drugs they used for chronic pain depending on their condition. They also report the ability to continue to work and function normally through¬out the day.
Cannabinoids found in cannabis have additional effects, specifically alleviating inflammation around damaged nerves and have been especially useful for the “phantom pain” associated with amputation.

References: Marijuana Medical Handbook: Practical Guide to the Therapeutic Uses of Marijuana, Dale Gieringer, PhD and Gregory T. Carter 2008. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

We hope that you never have to suffer from chronic pain, but if you do, there are alternatives and we hope you take time to seek answers to your questions. We’ll be here…ready to help!