Whole Plant Access for Autism (WPA4A) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that aims to educate families worldwide about the potential benefits of cannabis for autistic individuals. WPA4A operates a large support group and assists families who either prefer not to use pharmaceuticals or have had little success with various pharmaceutical treatments for challenging autism symptoms such as self-injury, aggression, severe insomnia, cognitive impairment, and communication difficulties. WPA4A believes that education is crucial in helping families effectively manage autism symptoms using cannabis. Collaborating with similar organizations and doctors, WPA4A strives to raise awareness about alternative approaches that can be beneficial for many.
“Cannabis and CBD can be beneficial for fibromyalgia patients because they address some of the underlying causes of the condition instead of just masking the symptoms. They can help reduce neuropathic and pelvic pain, spasms, headaches, inflammation, and anxiety or stress that can trigger or worsen flares. Cannabis may also improve imbalances in neurotransmitters like serotonin in fibromyalgia, help enhance mood, and alleviate depression that often accompanies this painful chronic disease with no cure. We’re excited to have a special guest speaker, Dr. Michele N. Ross, Ph.D., MBA, who not only studies fibromyalgia but also recovered from it. Dr Ross is renowned worldwide for her work as a health coach, cannabis expert, author, and neuroscientist. She has developed The BRACE Method to help fibromyalgia patients address the root problems instead of just treating the symptoms.”
There is no evidence that CBD products reduce chronic pain, and taking them is a waste of money and potentially harmful to health, new research finds
There is no evidence that CBD products reduce chronic pain, and taking them is a waste of money and potentially harmful to health, according to new research led by the University of Bath in the UK.
CBD (short for cannabidiol) is one of many chemicals found naturally in the cannabis plant. It’s a popular alternative medicine to treat pain and is readily available in shops and online in the form of oils, tinctures, vapes, topical creams, edibles (such as gummy bears) and soft drinks.
However, consumers would do well to steer clear of these products, according to the new study.
“CBD presents consumers with a big problem,” said Professor Chris Eccleston, who led the research from the Centre for Pain Research at Bath. “It’s touted as a cure for all pain but there’s a complete lack of quality evidence that it has any positive effects.”
He added: “It’s almost as if chronic pain patients don’t matter, and that we’re happy for people to trade on hope and despair.”
For their study, published this week in The Journal of Pain, the team – which included researchers from the Universities of Bath, Oxford and Alberta in Canada – examined research relevant to using CBD to treat pain and published in scientific journals up to late 2023.
They found:
CBD products sold direct to consumers contain varying amounts of CBD, from none to much more than advertised.
CBD products sold direct to consumers may contain chemicals other than CBD, some of which may be harmful and some illegal in some jurisdictions. Such chemicals include THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive component of the cannabis plant.
Of the 16 randomised controlled trials that have explored the link between pain and pharmaceutical-grade CBD, 15 have shown no positive results, with CBD being no better than placebo at relieving pain.
A meta-analysis (which combines data from multiple studies and plays a fundamental role in evidence-based healthcare) links CBD to increased rates of serious adverse events, including liver toxicity.
Medical vs non-medical CBD
In the UK, medical cannabis is the only CBD product that is subject to regulatory approval. It’s occasionally prescribed for people with severe forms of epilepsy, adults with chemotherapy-related nausea and people with multiple sclerosis.
Non-medical CBD is freely available in the UK (as well as in the US and many European countries) so long as it contains negligible quantities of THC or none at all. However, CBD products sold on the retail market are not covered by trade standards, meaning there is no requirement for them to be consistent in content or quality.
Most CBD products bought online – including popular CBD oils – are known to contain very small amounts of CBD. Moreover, any given product may be illegal to possess or supply, as there’s a good chance it will contain forbidden quantities of THC.
Chronic pain
An estimated 20% of the adult population lives with chronic pain, and sufferers are often desperate for help to alleviate their symptoms. It’s no surprise then that many people reach for CBD products, despite their high price tag and the lack of evidence of their effectiveness or safety.
Dr Andrew Moore, study co-author and former senior pain researcher in the Nuffield Division of Anaesthetics at the University of Oxford, said: “For too many people with chronic pain, there’s no medicine that manages their pain. Chronic pain can be awful, so people are very motivated to find pain relief by any means. This makes them vulnerable to the wild promises made about CBD.”
He added that healthcare regulators appear reluctant to act against the spurious claims made by some manufacturers of CBD products, possibly because they don’t want to interfere in a booming market (the global CBD product market was estimated at US$3 billion in 2021 or £2.4 billion and is anticipated to reach US$60 billion by 2030 or £48 billion) especially when the product on sale is widely regarded as harmless.
“What this means is that there are no consumer protections,” said Dr Moore. “And without a countervailing body to keep the CBD sellers in check, it’s unlikely that the false promises being made about the analgesic effects of CBD will slow down in the years ahead.”
The study’s authors are calling for chronic pain to be taken more seriously, with consumer protection becoming a priority.
“Untreated chronic pain is known to seriously damage quality of life, and many people live with pain every day and for the rest of their lives,” said Professor Eccleston. “Pain deserves investment in serious science to find serious solutions.”
States that permit the recreational use of cannabis to see a reduction in demand for prescription codeine, an opioid with a high potential for misuse, according to a new multi-institutional study led by University of Pittsburgh and Cornell University scientists.
Published this week in Health Economics, the study finds a significant reduction in pharmacy-based codeine distribution in states that have legalized recreational cannabis use. The finding is promising from a public health policy perspective because misuse of prescription opioids annually contributes to more than 10,000 overdose deaths.
Twenty-one U.S. states have passed recreational cannabis laws, and legislatures in other states are considering similar measures.
“A reduction in the misuse of opioids can save lives,” said lead author Shyam Raman, a doctoral candidate in Cornell’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. “Our research indicates that recreational cannabis laws substantially reduce the distribution of codeine to pharmacies, an overlooked potential benefit to legalizing recreational cannabis use.”
The study is among the first to examine the impact of recreational cannabis laws on shipments of opioids to hospitals, pharmacies and other endpoint distributors. Previous studies have focused on medical cannabis laws or the use of opioids by subsets of consumers, such as Medicaid beneficiaries.
A reduction of 26% in the pharmacy-based distribution of codeine and as much as a 37% reduction after recreational cannabis laws have been in effect for four years.
Minimal impact on the distribution of other opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine in any setting.
Minimal impact on codeine distribution by hospitals which often have less permissive policies than pharmacies.
“This finding is particularly meaningful,” said senior author Coleman Drake, Ph.D., assistant professor of health policy and management at Pitt’s School of Public Health. “Among prescription opioids, codeine misuse is especially high. Our findings suggest recreational cannabis use may be a substitute for codeine misuse.”
While cannabis and opioids can be used to minimize chronic pain symptoms, they aren’t equivalent in their impact on health.
“Increasing legal access to cannabis may shift some consumers away from opioids and towards cannabis,” said Johanna Catherine Maclean, Ph.D., of George Mason University. “While all substances have some risks, cannabis use is arguably less harmful to health than the non-medical use of prescription opioids.”
In cannabis trials against pain, people who take placebos report feeling largely the same level of pain relief as those who consume the active cannabinoid substance. Still, these studies receive significant media coverage regardless of the clinical outcome, report researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden in a study published in JAMA Network Open.
“We see that cannabis studies are often described in positive terms in the media regardless of their results,” says the study’s first author Filip Gedin, postdoc researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet. “This is problematic and can influence expectations when it comes to the effects of cannabis therapy on pain. The greater the benefit a treatment is assumed to have, the more potential harms can be tolerated.”
The study is based on an analysis of published clinical studies in which cannabis has been compared with placebo for the treatment of clinical pain. The change in pain intensity before and after treatment were the study’s primary outcome measurement.
The analysis drew on 20 studies published up to September 2021 involving almost 1,500 individuals.
The results of the study show that pain is rated as being significantly less intense after treatment with placebo, with a moderate to large effect. The researchers also observed no difference in pain reduction between cannabis and placebo, which corroborates results from another recently published meta-analysis.
“There is a distinct and clinically relevant placebo response in studies of cannabis for pain,” says Dr Gedin.
The researchers also examined a possible connection between the magnitude of the therapeutic effect shown by the cannabis studies and the coverage they receive in the media and in academic journals. Media presence was measured through Altmetric, which is a method of evaluating mentions in the media, in blogs and on social media. Academic impact was measured in terms of citations by other researchers.
The analysis of media presence included a total of 136 news items in traditional media and in blogs and was categorised as positive, negative or neutral, depending on how the results were presented concerning the effectiveness of cannabis as a treatment for pain.
The researchers found that the cannabis studies received much greater media attention than other published studies. The coverage was substantial regardless of the magnitude of the placebo response and regardless of the therapeutic effect of cannabis. They also observed no link between the proportion of positively described news about a study and the effect it reported.
The researchers add the caveat that their study combined trials of varying designs and quality and therefore the results should be interpreted with caution.
This research was financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Karin Jensen). The researchers report no potential conflicts of interest.
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