By Billee Sharp

Cannabis has been prescribed for pain relief from migraines, digestive disorders, menstrual cramps, and more for thousands of years. In China, the very first mention of cannabis for pain relief dates back to 2500 BC, combined with Datura it was recommended for chronic pain, during surgery and for surgical recovery! In many different times and places, migraines, muscle pain,arthritis and digestive issues have been treated with traditional cannabis medicine. Today medical cannabis follows in the footsteps of these ancient traditions, with the added benefit of science decoding just how cannabinoids work in the human body.

A recent Forbes Health survey, conducted by OnePoll, looked at CBD usage in a study of 2000 randomized US citizens aged between 18-85 years. CBD for pain relief was cited by 60% of the participants, just behind the 62% citing stress reduction.

Many cannabis medications for pain relief contain both THC and CBD, most often in a 1:1 ratio. The rationale is that THC works for pain relief and CBD works on reducing inflammation, which also alleviates pain. There hasn’t been a great deal of research into precisely how CBD helps alleviate chronic and unmanageable pain, but that is about to change as 50 research studies into CBD for pain relief are currently registered at clinicaltrials.gov.

This new interest in CBD for pain follows the widespread anecdotal successes of patients treating chronic pain and being able to reduce their intake of opiate pain-killers. As a provider of cannabis medicine, we have had a bird's eye perspective of this. Beginning 5 or so years ago, when providers such as Kaiser began to refuse chronic pain patients their legitimate pain relief prescriptions, there were very few options for these patients. Though a cruel travesty at the time, many were able to transition, using THC as the bridge, to a combination therapy of THC:CBD or CBD alone. It was an amazing and healthful transformation. Sadly, the team efforts of willing patients, knowledgeable doctor’s and medically curated product providers is a rare find. We are glad to continue sharing what we know and have learned from this honorable experience and hope more people will discover this potentially healthier & happier option to opioids.

While opioid painkillers are effective they do have significant side-effects, atop chronic constipation, foggy thinking and a sometimes dangerous loss of coordination, there is a significant addiction risk when opioids are prescribed for long-term conditions. Since endocannabinoid receptors also act as opioid receptors the overlap of actions can be used as leverage in successfully weaning off opioids.

As with all medicine, dosage is the key factor in successful treatment and protocol starting with low doses and titrating up will reveal the optimum dose for each individual.

From chronic pain management, diabetic and chemotherapy-related neuropathy, IBS and gastrointestinal issues, arthritis and auto-immune pain syndromes, CBD has shown positive results. Choosing the right delivery method for CBD pain relief is the first step and it is useful to have several different CBD medications to address pain as it arises.

The wonderful thing about CBD is that the side effects are all positive: when the human ECS is working efficiently, our healthy functioning improves as receptors activate, meditative actions flow through our bodies regulating and creating homeostatic balance.

Further reading:

https://www.forbes.com/health/cbd/cbd-for-pain/

https://projectcbd.org/health/science-cbd-for-pain/

Suggested Products:

Topicals

1:1 Synergy Salve, Super Strength Synergy Salve, Synergy Alcohol Roll-On

Tinctures

24:1 CBD tincture

4:1 CBD:THC tincture

Edibles

CBD triple ginger cookies

CBD chocolate cookies