Not only harm
Doctors: cannabis relieves pain, cramps and 25 more symptoms
Ksenia Malysheva, Naked Science
A study conducted by specialists from the University of New Mexico on 16 thousand patients showed that the use of marijuana can quickly alleviate the symptoms of a number of diseases, mainly pain, insomnia, as well as anxiety and other manifestations of depression.
To do this, the scientists used data from the Release App mobile application, specially written so that patients could independently document the intake of marijuana and its drugs.
"If our results are extrapolated to the rest of the population, it turns out that marijuana and its drugs can replace the multibillion-dollar drug market. Moreover, this replacement is already taking place," explains Jacob Vigil, one of the authors of both articles.
The Release App application allows you to keep records of consumption, assess the intensity of symptoms before and after taking marijuana; according to the creators, the Release App compares favorably with other data collection methods (diaries, communication with specialists) in that, firstly, its use does not take much time, and secondly, it is anonymous and therefore it is more comfortable for those who do not like to talk about their treatment and/or cannabis use.
In addition, the study of data collected by patients themselves in a normal setting (outside the hospital and in the absence of doctors) has its advantages, the authors of the study note, this is especially valuable for the reason that marijuana is used in this way – not under the control of doctors, but at home. The situation can affect both the effect and the preferred dosage form, and the frequency of use, so an application study is one of the best ways to get reliable data, according to Vigil and his colleagues.
Assessment of the intensity of 27 symptoms before and after taking a THC-containing drug. Sarah S. Stith et al. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2018
The first study took into account data from 2,830 patients with 27 different diagnoses experiencing symptoms ranging from anxiety to seizures. The average result of subjective symptom relief as a result of 13,638 cannabis intake was four points on a ten-point scale (the effect of all dosage forms was taken into account: extracts, tinctures, food with cannabis extract, wax candles, ointments and toothpaste). In the second study, only the effect of smoking cannabis inflorescences on patients suffering from insomnia was taken into account; 409 people reported a total of 1,056 medications. Data processing has shown the effectiveness of the active substance of cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in relieving ten types of pain and symptoms such as seizures, nausea, weakness, increased and decreased appetite, anxiety and 11 more names.
The ability of THC to relieve pain, including chronic and oncological diseases, and to alleviate the symptoms of epilepsy and cerebral palsy, depression and post-traumatic disorder, has long been proven; there is reason to believe that THC is able to alleviate the condition in patients with other diagnoses. The work of Vigil and his colleagues, however, was the first large-scale study of the effectiveness of cannabis based on subjective assessments of patients.
The authors note that no known drug has such a wide spectrum of action as cannabis: according to the data collected by the application, the use of THC-containing drugs relieves 27 symptoms, while positive side effects (relaxation, pacification, general well-being) are much more frequent and stronger than negative ones (anxiety, headache pain).
Two articles on the results of the study have been published in Medicines and Frontiers in Pharmacology.
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