A federally funded study reviewing research on cannabis has found very little concrete evidence on its benefits as a chronic pain reliever, despite popular media and academic coverage of its medicinal potential.
“With so much buzz around cannabis-related products, and the easy availability of recreational and medical marijuana in many states, consumers and patients might assume there would be more evidence about the benefits and side effects,” said lead author Dr. Marian S. McDonagh. Cannabis has been marketed as a pain reliever for years, marketed as a replacement for opioid drugs prescribed to chronic pain patients.
However, researchers examined more than 3,000 studies and found only a total of 25 studies had scientifically valid evidence on its benefits for acute pain with no valid studies supporting them as chronic pain analgesics….