“Weeding” out bad research: Scores of data prove medical cannabis is safe and effective

For a long time, cannabis had a bad reputation. It was portrayed by the media, as well as the government itself, as a sort of dangerous gateway drug that must be avoided in order to live a productive and successful life. However, times have now changed. Nowadays, there is plenty of information about the benefits of using cannabis – particularly when it comes to pain relief in patients. Now a special journal issue has been put together by experts on the subject to push further acceptance and adoption of cannabis as a form of modern medication.

Based on an online report, it appears that a special issue of the European Journal of Internal Medicine was created with the aim of bringing cannabis into mainstream medicine. As the report states, medical cannabis is a truly safe and effective choice for pain relief. Researchers are, therefore, calling for it to be properly established as a treatment in the modern medical arsenal.

The special issue of the journal contains a number of definitive studies as well as a comprehensive overview of all the currently available evidence on the uses of cannabis and derived medicinal products from it. The researchers also call for even more research in order to improve the evidence base that can be used in the future.

According to Victor Novack, a professor at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel and a guest editor on the special issue, it’s basically time to reboot research on cannabis and make the whole world know of its beneficial properties. “We feel it is absolutely imperative to not only present the current state of affairs, but also propose the development of the scientific research program within the paradigm of evidence-based medicine,” he said. “Our ultimate aim should be to scientifically establish the actual place of medical cannabis derived products in the modern medical arsenal.” (Related: Medical cannabis – The healing pros and cons.)

The main problem, in the view of some experts, is that despite the fact that cannabis has proven itself useful over the course of a few centuries for pain relief, it’s still pretty much shunned in the eyes of the general public. Indeed, its effectiveness as a sleep aid, as well as for many other purposes, often gets overlooked.

As of now, there is still very little evidence on the safety and effectiveness of cannabis for patients, and it’s due mainly to certain legal restrictions on its use. This has essentially put a road block in front of potentially significant research efforts, which means the knowledge and information can’t get passed down to doctors, much less to the general public.

In the special issue, there are two major studies that focus on the use of cannabis in cancer patients and the elderly. Here, Novack’s team of researchers gathered and analyzed data from 2,970 cancer patients between 2015 and 2017, and it was shown that cannabis was effective in alleviating the two main problems encountered by patients, namely pain and sleep problems.

The special issue also included a comprehensive review where a team of researchers looked at 10,000 scientific abstracts, and afterwards “concluded that there was conclusive or substantial evidence that Cannabis or cannabinoids are effective for the treatment of pain in adults; chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis.”

At the very least, the journal’s special edition could serve as a reference point for those looking for comprehensive evidence of the benefits of cannabis at some point in the future.

Learn more about the medicinal properties of cannabis at CannabisCures.news.

Sources include:

AlphaGalileo.org

EJINME.com