Pot may prolong pain, not relieve it: Study

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
7,046
43
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This should bring major debates.

Marijuana's painkilling properties are being called into question by new research that suggests the drug can amplify and prolong pain rather than relieve it.
A study published in the current issue of Science suggests prescribing marijuana for pain relief, which is legal in a number of countries, including Canada, may be counterproductive.
Experiments with rodents and humans found that a group of compounds that includes cannabinoids, the active ingredients in marijuana, can interfere with the body's mechanisms to stop pain signals from reaching the brain.
"If you had a toothache, you probably wouldn't want to treat it with marijuana, because you could actually make it worse," said University of Texas professor Volker Neugebauer, one of the study's authors.
"Now, for more pathological conditions like neuropathic pain, where the problem is a dysfunction within the nerves themselves and a subsequent disturbance throughout the nervous system that's not confined to the pain system, marijuana may be beneficial."
Health Canada allows those suffering from grave and debilitating illnesses to access marijuana for medical use to treat severe pain from conditions such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, cancer, arthritis and HIV/AIDS.
Researchers from the United States, Switzerland, Hungary, Japan, Germany, France and Venezuela collaborated on the new research. They found that endocannabinoids in the spinal cord suppress the body's ability to put "the brakes" on pain signals, leaving pain with a straight road to the brain.
"In the spinal cord there's a balance of systems that control what information, including information about pain, is transmitted to the brain," Prof. Neugebauer said.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
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bliss
I can't see where these findings would change anything (but like you say, it will probably raise debate... anything pot related usually does).

I've never heard of pot being prescribed for acute pains like they describe. Also, opioids like morphine run a risk of creating phantom pain too, so, you have to weigh your options.
 

Unforgiven

Force majeure
May 28, 2007
6,770
137
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"If you had a toothache, you probably wouldn't want to treat it with marijuana, because you could actually make it worse," :roll:

I don't think there was ever a submission that Pot was effective on acute pain. Chronic pain yes, nausea yes, Acute pain, ahhh no. It won't stop a heart attack either and sever bleeding, well you can forget any help there. Can't stop a cold and it will do nothing for decapitation. So all these guys going around saying that pot will do that can just forget it. :p

Of course the health benefits of Pot are growing.
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
41,035
201
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RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
As are the health drawbacks.

You're elk are the biggest health drawback the patient has to survive. If you're not part of the solution then you are standing in the way of people in pain, a very silly position. Why don't you just beat arthritics with sticks next time you feel like brutalizing someone.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
192
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Nakusp, BC
Smoking pot, in the long run, will be detrimental. It is no different than our ancestors sitting around the camp fire day in and day out breathing the smoke and dying at the ripe old age of forty. It is the super heated tars that burn the back of the throat that are hazardous. If one has to smoke, do so through an apparatus that cools the smoke first, like a bong or water pipe. Better yet, through one of those electric vaporizers or in baking like cookies or brownies. That is much more medicinally useful and eliminates most of the health risks. The OP here is pure sensationalism, with very little basis in fact. It is just another attack on natural remedies by Big Pharma.

And yes Cannuck, you can put that in your pipe and smoke it.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
192
63
Nakusp, BC
You're elk are the biggest health drawback the patient has to survive. If you're not part of the solution then you are standing in the way of people in pain, a very silly position. Why don't you just beat arthritics with sticks next time you feel like brutalizing someone.

What ever happened to the old guy out your way that was curing people of cancer and stuff with his free pot oil treatments? Is he still out there or have they locked him up yet?
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
41,035
201
63
RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
5332. pharmakeus (far-mak-yoos')​

sorcerer​
From pharmakon (a drug, i.e. Spell-giving potion); a druggist ("pharmacist") or poisoner, i.e. (by extension) a magician -- sorcerer.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
192
63
Nakusp, BC
The biggest cause of illness and death is old age....

The number of people who live beyond 100 are few and far between, but they show us the dying before one hundred (actually there is no reason that we could not live to be 125) is to die prematurely. Very few people die of old age. Most of us die for any number of reasons - cancer, heart disease, bad diet, lack of exercise, vehicular accidents, drug (legal and illegal) abuse.....
No, I think most people die prematurely of laziness and ignorance. I think the underlying cause is living in the Matrix.
 

Unforgiven

Force majeure
May 28, 2007
6,770
137
63
You're elk are the biggest health drawback the patient has to survive.
I see you share pr firms with Kill Face.