Marijuana Could Help Patients Reduce Opiates for Pain

UCSF Study Finds Medical Marijuana Could Help Patients Reduce Pain with Opiates | ucsf.edu

This study from December 2011 validates the experience of many pain patients as they gain access to use medical marijuana.

A UCSF study suggests patients with chronic pain may experience greater relief if their doctors add cannabinoids – the main ingredient in cannabis or medical marijuana – to an opiates-only treatment. The findings, from a small-scale study, also suggest that a combined therapy could result in reduced opiate dosages.

In a paper published this month in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, researchers examined the interaction between cannabinoids and opiates in the first human study of its kind. They found the combination of the two components reduced pain more than using opiates alone, similar to results previously found in animal studies