A clinical trial conducted by researchers in Canada reveals that three puffs a day of cannabis will keep the chronic pain away.
The research, led by Dr. Mark Ware, assistant professor of anesthesia and family medicine at McGill University in Montreal, evaluated 21 men and women, with an average age of 45 years old. All of the patients suffered from some form of chronic nerve pain, also referred to as neuropathic pain.
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The team tried three different cannabis strains with varying potencies. The most potent had a concentration of 9.4 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis), the next herbal cannabis had a concentration of 6 percent THC, and the least potent was 2.5 percent THC. They wanted to see the effect cannabis would have on chronic pain.
The study lasted for two months, during which the patients used the three strains, as well as a placebo for the control of the experiment. The cannabis was put into in a bowl of a pipe, while each person was told inhale for five seconds, hold the smoke in their lungs for 10 seconds, and then exhale. They did this single puff method, three times a day for five days. The patients never knew which dose or placebo they were smoking, as a means to make sure the results were untainted.
After the end of the five days, the patients recorded their pain on a scale from 0-10. 0 equaled no pain at all and 10 equaled the worst pain.
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As you can imagine, the dose with 9.4 percent THC provided the most relief for patients, reducing their pain down to 5.4, where as the placebo had the relief at 6.1.
We get what you’re thinking. That doesn’t appear to be that much of a difference, but actually, “any reduction in pain is important” according to Ware. And any chronic pain patient would agree. So the next time your nerve pain is getting on your nerves, inhale, hold, exhale. Repeat three times.
