Cannabis and Chronic Pain

Cannabis has been used to treat pain for many hundreds of years. In fact, there is reference to the use of cannabis for pain management in all major ancient cultures from China to the Middle East, from Africa to Europe and the Americas. The earliest references to cannabis as medicine are believed to have come from the Pen Ts’ao, a medical text compiled by Chinese emperor Shen-Nung—known as the Father of Chinese Medicine. In 200 CE Hua T’ao, a Chinese surgeon who reportedly pioneered complex surgeries such as organ grafts and intestinal resections, was said to use a preparation of wine and cannabis resin called ma-yo as an incredibly effective anesthetic that rendered his complex surgeries painless. Cannabis is said to have been brought west from the Orient by the Scythians (a group of tribes living on the borders of what are now Asia and Russia). The Mesopotamians in the Middle East and the Egyptians in North Africa both used cannabis topicals to treat inflammation. It is even supposed by some that references in the New Testament regarding Jesus’s healing powers are references to cannabis—for instance the line in Acts of Thomas ‘Thou holy oil given unto us for sanctification […] thou art the straightener of the crooked limbs’. Cannabis continued its westward march up into the common era and up until the early 19th century it was used by most cultures for various types of pain such as headaches, inflammation/arthritis, neuropathic pain, menstrual cramps, and labor pains.

Today chronic pain—defined as pain which occurs 100+ days a year—is the most common diagnosis cannabis is used to treat. Since it’s popularity and availability in modern western medicine have grown over the past 10+ years, many who suffer pain of all types have begun CBD and/or THC or whole plant medicines to try and experience relief without the heinous side effects that come along with other treatments. Multiple studies have come out in the last few years showing that patients with access to medical cannabis use fewer opiates, and States that have made medical cannabis available generally have lower rates of drug addiction and overdose. A survey done in 2017 even reported that 97%(!) of patients ‘strongly agreed/agreed’ that they are able to reduce their opioid consumption when also using cannabis. (Note: Patients should be careful about dosage because cannabis is biphasic, meaning that while small doses may have positive outcomes, higher doses can have the opposite effect—if you’re not opposed to inhalation options they are a good way of starting out because they work quickly and are therefore easier to manage dose wise.)

In 1859 Sir John Russell Reynolds, physician to Queen Victoria, wrote that ‘For the relief of certain kinds of pain […] there is no more useful medicine than cannabis within our reach’. Because of its anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and muscle relaxant qualities, cannabis shows promise for the treatment of most kinds of pain. Today it is commonly recommended for neuropathic pain (such as with diabetic neuropathy or MS), migraines and cluster headaches, cancer and HIV related pain, and some kinds of muscle pain. The Endocannabinoid System is both centrally and peripherally involved in the processing of pain signals, making cannabinoid based treatments especially effective. And while THC and CBD have analgesic properties all by themselves, several other molecular compounds found in cannabis (cannabinoids such as CBC, CBG, THC-A, THC-V, and terpenes like Beta Caryophyllene, Myrcene, and Linalool, to name just a few) also work to treat pain, making whole plant medicine more effective than THC or CBD on its own. And new cannabinoids and their therapeutic properties are being discovered all the time, so it is reasonable to assume that cannabis works to kill pain in a whole lotta ways we don’t even know about yet! So if you suffer from any kind of pain start experimenting and chances are you’ll be able to find a cannabis treatment method that works for you.

If you’re interested in trying whole plant medicine to treat your pain, but are hesitant because of its psychoactive properties, check out our blog post about ways to use full spectrum products without any psychoactive effects.