10). In this particular study, the effects of smoked cannabis as compared wit the results of patients who received and smoked placebos was significant, and showed a 34% reduction in daily pain amongst those patients receiving the cannabis, versus 17% amongst those patients receiving the placebo.
The outcome of the studies conducted would suggest that medical use of marijuana for pain is recommended. The study concluded that there is an absence of pain relieving analgesics available to patients in the classifications studied. The findings as they relate to the efficacy of cannabis for the treatment of spasticity in MS indicate that medicinal marijuana for that purpose is an avenue of treatment for this very difficult to manage condition and the pain associated with the disease (p. 16).
The future of medicinal cannabis as a therapeutic approach to difficult to manage conditions like Parkinson's Disease, MS, and other conditions that have high levels of pain is one that can now be studied with the confidence that such a highly structured program provides the public. Peer reviewed articles on the methodologies and data analysis will inform and advance the scientific and medical communities in developing new cannabinoid therapeutic approaches to disease management.
The study was forthright, and leads the investigator of this research to pursue the many peer reviewed works of the physicians and clinicians involved in the studies and trials. The next step, should it be...
The number of participants will increase with the subsequent Phase III and Phase IV processes on a larger world-scale participant basis.
The conclusions that further studies would benefit patients is evidenced by the outcomes that demonstrate improved patient conditions in pain relief, movement, moods, and other behaviors (p. 16).
This is not a study that can be easily ignored by the public, or discredited by anti-cannabis opponents who perhaps envision medicinal cannabis leading to a drug-crazed society. This study reveals the efficacy of cannabis as a therapeutic botanical avenue for the treatment specific conditions and pain. The peer reviewed discussions that have been published and which have been submitted for publication take the concept of cannabis as a medicinal botanical product to a new level of discussion at a highly professional level of scientific and medical practitioner involvement. It is one that warrants further study, and one which will hopefully receive the funding and support that will keep it moving forward through Phase II, III, and IV.
Reference List
Grant, I., Atkinson, J.H., Mattison, A., and Coates, T. Report to the Legislature and Governor of the State of California Presenting the Findings of Pursuant to SB847 Which Created the CMCR and Provided State Funding. University California, San Diego,…
