Cannabinoids in pain management

doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7323.1249

BMJ 2001;323:1249 ( 24 November )

Letters

Cannabinoids in pain management

Study was bound to conclude that cannabinoids had limited efficacy

Few well controlled trials of cannabis exist for systematic review

Spasticity is not the same as pain

Cannabinoid receptor agonists will soon find their place in modern medicine

Authors' reply

Study was bound to conclude that cannabinoids had limited efficacy

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Campbell et al's paper on whether cannabinoids are effective and safe in the management of pain purports to be qualitativeand systematic,¹ but it is neither. Because it focused on twoclinically questionable synthetic cannabinoids and oral delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol(THC) without providing any focus on the synergistic componentsof herbal cannabis, and examined only certain facets of the broadtopic of pain, it ensured that a conclusion of limited efficacywas reached. That is notnews.

What is surprising, in contrast, is that the authors chose to broaden the alleged impact of their limited investigation torelegate the use of cannabis and cannabinoids to a back seat infuture analgesic applications. This contention is not supportedby their limiteddata.

I see nothing published about pioneering British doctors and their clinical successes with cannabis extracts in a myriad ofpainful conditions between 1840 and 1940.^2-4 I see virtuallynothing of . . . [Full text of this article]

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Are cannabinoids an effective and safe treatment option in the management of pain? A qualitative systematic review: Fiona A Campbell, Martin R Tramèr, Dawn Carroll, D John M Reynolds, R Andrew Moore, and Henry J McQuay
BMJ 2001 323: 13. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]