A new study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that while some chronic pain patients find helpful relief through medical marijuana, the treatment is unlikely to benefit most patients.

To get a better understanding of the effectiveness of medical marijuana for chronic pain sufferers, an international group of researchers analyzed three dozen medical cannabis studies. Overall, they found that only a small percentage of participants reported “an important improvement” in chronic pain, physical function or sleep quality when taking oral or topical cannabis treatment.

“When we look at the overall evidence for therapeutic cannabis products, the benefits are quite modest,” said lead author Jason Busse, associate director of McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research in Ontario. “So medical cannabis is not likely to be a panacea. It is not likely to work for the majority of individuals who live with chronic pain. We do have evidence that it does appear to provide important benefits for a minority of individuals.”

Chronic Pain and Medical Marijuana

We have talked up the potential benefits of medical marijuana for chronic pain on this blog in the past, but at the same time, we’re not entirely surprised by the findings for a number of reasons. Here’s why:

Chronic Pain Is Complex And Individualized – Chronic pain is not like a broken arm. A chronic pain condition is highly individualized to the patient, and what works for one patient may not work for others. When it comes to chronic pain, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to chronic pain. Expecting medical marijuana to treat all different forms of chronic pain would be foolish.

Medical Marijuana Is Complex – Even though medical marijuana is highly regulated, there are so many different cannabis strains, and they can each affect a user differently. It’s not like taking 400 milligrams of Ibuprofen. Chronic pain treatment effectiveness may simply be lacking because of the differences between cannabis forms and strains.

Early Stages Of Understanding – We’re still in the early stages of learning about the effectiveness of medical marijuana for chronic pain. Moreover, federal regulations oftentimes make it difficult to research medical cannabis. We’re trying to learn more and increase its effectiveness, but we’re in the early stages, and access to data isn’t always easy to come by.

Certain Side Effects – Even if medical marijuana did help with a patient’s pain, the treatment can also come with some side effects that can leave people questioning whether it is the right treatment for them. Minor or mild pain improvements may not be worth it if they find that they are dizzy, anxious or have the sensation of being “high,” which have been reported in some users. Again, more research could help limit these unwanted side effects in some patients, but the research is lacking for a number of reasons.

There are also plenty of benefits associated with medical cannabis. Aside from it’s potential to unlock chronic pain, it’s also much less likely to become addictive or physically harmful like opioids – another common chronic pain condition treatment. Simply put, we’re not ready to give up on this potential solution to chronic pain, and we hope that this study only makes it clearer that more funding and research on the potential benefits and best practices for administering medical cannabis for chronic pain is needed.