Meh, couldn’t hurt. At least, not any more than your head already does.
A comprehensive overview of medical marijuana studies released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found just one study on migraines. The report was released back in 1999, but not much has changed: A similar review conducted by The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2015 makes no mention of headaches at all.
This is odd. In traditional medicine, all the way from ancient India to the Islamic world and pre-modern Europe, cannabis was used to cure a headache. In fact, during the Victorian era, cannabis was the favored treatment for migraines.
Ironically, the only reliable modern study on the subject shows that abruptly halting marijuana intake can cause migraines. Even the IOM finds this a strange situation. Citing the weight of anecdotal evidence—as well as neurological research that shows an abundance of cannabinoid receptors in the very region of the brain that is believed to produce migraines—the government agency calls for more research.
Our verdict on the cannabis headache cure: Meh, couldn’t hurt. At least, not any more than your head already does.
