What do you really know about cannabis? What is the relationship between cannabis and the chronic painDo you really know what are the reasons for controlled consumption of this substance? If you cannot give an answer to the questions we are asking you, don't worry: at BCN Kush we tell you about it.
Did you know that cannabis has been used as a medicinal plant for thousands of years? So was its interest until opiates came along. Then, the use of cannabis as a medicinal plant was diminishing in the face of its increase. But... Let's get to the heart of the matter. What makes cannabis a plant that is considered very beneficial for our organism? The answer became clear when the organic compounds in marijuana, known, among many others, as the cannabinoids 'THC' and 'CBD', were isolated. These have the incredible ability to connect with many cells in our body, and popularly known in the medical community as 'the key to a molecular lock'.
Pain can be controlled by THC
In other words, THC manages to connect to our organism acting as a chemical messenger.. This is where two other very important factors come in that will make us understand how well cannabis works in our system. In the 1990s, another cannabinoid was discovered - this time, one that our body segregates naturally-: the anandamide. Furthermore, this 'anandamide' is found to be part of a larger intercellular communication system in the body, known as the 'endocannabinoid system'.
Thus, it is discovered that this endocannabinoid system is intimately connected to the self-regulatory processes (temperature control, PH, blood sugar level, etc.), and is involved in numerous processes in our organism such as the motor coordination, neuroprotection, appetite or pain control.
The endocannabinoid system maintains a complex balance in the body.
THC and CBD are two of the most important one hundred cannabinoids that the cannabis plant produces. And, although we can already intuit that there are many benefits of its consumption, among these, the following stands out pain management. Cannabis, then, administered in adequate dosesIt can help control epilepsy, chronic pain, or even whet the appetite of patients diagnosed with HIV.
There are many reasons why the use of cannabis or marijuana should be controlled, but, as we have mentioned, in the field of chronic pain two very important factors play a role: the fact that this use is ruled by medical prescription and that it be subjected to exhaustive control, since the issue of opioids must be taken into account. We are making an impact on this problem by referring, to give a relevant example, to the public health problem generated by the opioid use in the United States. This issue led scientific societies to seriously question its use as a long-term treatment in patients with chronic pain of non-oncological origin, and changed the landscape of medical cannabis use almost worldwide.
This means that, at present, the use of medical cannabis is much more closely monitored than opioids were and are in the field of pain.
In short, although the problem of opiates must be taken into account, the available scientific evidence is as follows favorable to the use of cannabis in chronic pain patientsespecially in cases of neuropathic and oncologic pain. In view of these data, why deny the patient that controlled useIs it not understandable that patient and doctor agree on such consumption if cannabis has accompanied human beings for thousands of years?