Medicinal cannabis ‘false hope’ for chronic pain sufferers – pain doctors

Radio NZ News 12 July 2019
Family First Comment: “…the largest review on the effects of chronic non-cancer pain showed medicinal cannabis did not work for most patients. You have to treat 24 patients to find one patient who has a 30 percent or more reduction in their pain, 23 out of 24 patients won’t even get a 30 percent reduction in their pain,”

Pain management doctors are worried the hype of medicinal cannabis is giving chronic pain patients false hope.

The Ministry of Health has released proposed regulations on how GPs and specialists could prescribe medicinal cannabis products.

The regulations are now open for public feedback.

Christchurch-based pain medicine specialist John Alchin said the largest review on the effects of chronic non-cancer pain showed medicinal cannabis did not work for most patients.

“You have to treat 24 patients to find one patient who has a 30 percent or more reduction in their pain, 23 out of 24 patients won’t even get a 30 percent reduction in their pain,” he said.

Dr Alchin said other medications for chronic pain had been proven to be much better than cannabinoids.

However, he said scientific reviews had also showed it could be very effective for paediatric epilepsy, pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis, or for those with nausea from chemotherapy.

“It’s not a blanket solution for everything but that’s the way it’s being presented – it’s the new ‘miracle drug’ – but that’s not what the data shows,” he said.
READ MORE: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/394227/medicinal-cannabis-false-hope-for-chronic-pain-sufferers-pain-doctors