Pain and Medical Cannabis Use

"By providing a medical geographic patient utilization 'snapshot' of 236.4 patient-years of the use of MC [Medical Cannabis] at a regional pain clinic, this study provides further insight into the applicability of cannabinoid botanicals in the management of a broad range of refractory chronic pain conditions in adults, from myofascial pain and discogenic back pain to neuropathic pain and central pain syndromes. With physicians employing proper chart documentation of appropriate use, efficacy, and side effects at patient visits, in a manner similar to that used in opioid management of pain, there will hopefully be additional reports in the future on MC use in pain management to add to the clinical database.
"Such a literature can grow only if certain stereotypes and myths about MC use are dispelled amongst pain management specialists and their regulators. The results presented here should help to deconstruct mythologies about the kinds of patients accessing MC treatment, including their young age or their propensity to malinger or feign disease. One prominent mythology is that patients who receive treatment with MC are not 'truly sick.'⁴⁵ An examination of the chart review data, which includes both subjective and objective diagnostic data substantiating patients’ chronic pain illnesses, helps to deflate this concern."