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Use of Prescription Pain Medications Among Medical Cannabis Patients

Authors: Brian E. Perron, Kipling Bohnert, Angela K. Perone, Marcel O. Bonn-Miller, Mark Ilgen
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May 2015

OBJECTIVE: Management of chronic pain is one of the most common reasons given by individuals seeking medical cannabis. However, very little information exists about the concurrent use of cannabis and prescription pain medication (PPM). This study fills this gap in knowledge by…

Cannabinoid CB2 receptors regulate central sensitization and pain responses associated with osteoarthritis of the knee joint.

Authors: James J. Burston, Devi Rani Sagar, Pin Shao, Mingfeng Bai, Emma King, Louis Brailsford, et al
PLoS One, 25 November 2013

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the joint is a prevalent disease accompanied by chronic, debilitating pain. Recent clinical evidence has demonstrated that central sensitization contributes to OA pain. An improved understanding of how OA joint pathology impacts upon the central processi…

Comparison of the analgesic effects of dronabinol and smoked marijuana in daily marijuana smokers.

Authors: Ziva D. Cooper, Sandra D. Comer, Margaret Haney
Neuropsychopharmacology, September 2013

Recent studies have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids to treat pain, yet none have compared the analgesic effectiveness of smoked marijuana to orally administered Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; dronabinol). This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-dumm…

Cannabinergic pain medicine: a concise clinical primer and survey of randomized-controlled trial results.

Authors: Sunil Aggarwal
Clinical Journal of Pain, February 2013

OBJECTIVES: This article attempts to cover pragmatic clinical considerations involved in the use of cannabinergic medicines in pain practice, including geographical and historical considerations, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, adverse effects, drug interactions, indicatio…

Role of Cannabinoids in Pain Management

Authors: Ethan B. Russo, Andrea G. Hohmann
Comprehensive Treatment of Chronic Pain by Medical, Interventional, and Integrative Approaches, 2013

It is a curious fact that we owe a great deal of our insight into pharmacological treatment of pain to the plant world. Willow bark from Salix spp. led to development of aspirin and eventual elucidation of the analgesic effects of prostaglandins and their role in inflammation…

Multiple sclerosis and extract of cannabis: results of the MUSEC trial.

Authors: John Peter Zajicek, Jeremy C. Hobart, Anita Slade, David Barnes, Paul G. Mattison
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry, November 2012

OBJECTIVE: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with chronic symptoms, including muscle stiffness, spasms, pain and insomnia. Here we report the results of the Multiple Sclerosis and Extract of Cannabis (MUSEC) study that aimed to substantiate the patient based findings of pr…

Smoked cannabis for spasticity in multiple sclerosis: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Authors: Jody Corey-Bloom, Tanya Wolfson, Anthony Gamst, Shelia Jin, Thomas D. Marcotte, et al
CMAJ, 10 July 2012

BACKGROUND: Spasticity is a common and poorly controlled symptom of multiple sclerosis. Our objective was to determine the short-term effect of smoked cannabis on this symptom. METHODS: We conducted a placebo-controlled, crossover trial involving adult patients with multiple s…

Nabiximols for opioid-treated cancer patients with poorly-controlled chronic pain: a randomized, placebo-controlled, graded-dose trial.

Authors: Russell K. Portenoy, Elena Doina Ganae-Motan, Silvia Allende, Ronald Yanagihara, et al
The Journal of Pain, May 2012

Patients with advanced cancer who have pain that responds poorly to opioid therapy pose a clinical challenge. Nabiximols (Nabiximols is the U.S. Adopted Name [USAN] for Sativex [GW Pharma Ltd, Wiltshire, U.K.], which does not yet have an INN), a novel cannabinoid formulation, …

Nabiximols for opioid-treated cancer patients with poorly-controlled chronic pain: a randomized, placebo-controlled, graded-dose trial.

Authors: Russell K. Portenoy, Elena Doina Ganae-Motan, Silvia Allende, Ronald Yanagihara, et al
The Journal of Pain, May 2012

Patients with advanced cancer who have pain that responds poorly to opioid therapy pose a clinical challenge. Nabiximols (Nabiximols is the U.S. Adopted Name [USAN] for Sativex [GW Pharma Ltd, Wiltshire, U.K.], which does not yet have an INN), a novel cannabinoid formulation…

Prescribing cannabis for harm reduction.

Authors: Mark Collen
Harm Reduction Journal, 1 January 2012

Neuropathic pain affects between 5% and 10% of the US population and can be refractory to treatment. Opioids may be recommended as a second-line pharmacotherapy but have risks including overdose and death. Cannabis has been shown to be effective for treating nerve pain without…

Cannabinoid-opioid interaction in chronic pain.

Authors: D. I. Abrams, P. Couey, S. B. Shade, M. E. Kelly, N. L. Benowitz
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, December 2011

Cannabinoids and opioids share several pharmacologic properties and may act synergistically. The potential pharmacokinetics and the safety of the combination in humans are unknown. We therefore undertook a study to answer these questions. Twenty-one individuals with chronic pa…

Cannabidiol prevents the development of cold and mechanical allodynia in paclitaxel-treated female C57Bl6 mice.

Authors: Sara Ward, Michael Ramirez, Harshini Neelakantan, Ellen Walker
Anesthesia and Analgesia, October 2011

The taxane chemotherapeutic paclitaxel frequently produces peripheral neuropathy in humans. Rodent models to investigate mechanisms and treatments are largely restricted to male rats, whereas female mouse studies are lacking. We characterized a range of paclitaxel doses on col…