Pain tolerance among cannabis users
Unlike opioids, long-term cannabis use does not increase sensitivity to
pain

Date:
September 10, 2020
Source:
University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
Summary:
A recent study examining pain among cannabis users suggests that
- - unlike long-term opioid use -- regular cannabis use does not
appear to increase pain sensitivity.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A recent study examining pain among cannabis users suggests that --
unlike long-term opioid use -- regular cannabis use does not appear to
increase pain sensitivity.


========================================================================== Doctoral student Michelle St. Pierre, who conducts research in the
psychology department at UBC Okanagan, recently published a study looking
for differences in pain tolerance of people who frequently use cannabis compared to those who don't.

"Recent years have seen an increase in the adoption of cannabinoid
medicines, which have demonstrated effectiveness for the treatment
of chronic pain," says St. Pierre. "However, the extent to which
frequent cannabis use influences sensitivity to acute pain has not been systematically examined." Interest in the use of cannabinoids to help
with chronic pain relief has accelerated over the past decade, St. Pierre explains, noting that a recent survey of medical cannabis patients
reported that more than half used cannabis for pain relief. That's
despite recent reviews which suggest the effectiveness of cannabinoid
therapies for chronic pain is mixed.

"This study should come as good news to patients who are already using
cannabis to treat pain," says co-author Zach Walsh, who leads the UBC Therapeutic Recreational and Problematic Substance Use Lab which hosted
the study.

"Increases in pain sensitivity with opioids can really complicate an
already tough situation; given increasing uptake of cannabis-based pain medications it's a relief that we didn't identify a similar pattern
with cannabinoids." St. Pierre's study explored differences in measures
of pain intensity and tolerance. The authors speculated that people who
report frequent cannabis use would demonstrate greater experimental pain sensitivity but instead found no differences.

"There is a different effect from opioid users; sustained use of opioids
can make people more reactive to pain. We wanted to determine if there was
a similar trend for people who use cannabis frequently," says St. Pierre.

"Cannabis and opioids share some of the same pain-relief pathways and have
both been associated with increases in pain sensitivity following acute
use." The risk of addiction, overdose and opioid-induced hyperalgesia --
where someone becomes more sensitive to pain -- are major issues when
it comes to using opioids to manage chronic pain, St. Pierre says. A
patient with hyperalgesia might then increase their dosage of the opioid
to manage the pain, further increasing the risk of addiction.

The analgesic effects of cannabis have been proposed to engage some of
the similar brainstem circuitry to those of opioids. However, the extent
to which cannabinoids induce hyperalgesia has not been determined.

For her study, St. Pierre recruited volunteers who used cannabis more
than three times a week and people who didn't use it at all. Study
participants were subjected to a cold-pressor task test, where they
submerged a hand and forearm in icy water for a sustained amount of time.

What they determined was that cannabis use doesn't carry the same risk
for hyperalgesia that opioid use does, she adds.

"Our results suggest frequent cannabis use did not seem to be associated
with elevated sensitivity to experimental pain in a manner that can
occur in opioid therapy," she says. "This is an important distinction
that care providers and patients should consider when selecting options
for pain management. These findings are particularly relevant in light
of recent reports of opioid overprescribing and high rates of pain in
the population, as it suggests that cannabis may not carry the same risk
of hyperalgesia as opioids."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_British_Columbia_Okanagan_campus. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Michelle St. Pierre, Ethan B. Russo, Zach Walsh. No Evidence
of Altered
Reactivity to Experimentally Induced Pain Among Regular Cannabis
Users.

The Clinical Journal of Pain, 2020; 36 (8): 589 DOI: 10.1097/
AJP.0000000000000844 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910120105.htm

--- up 2 weeks, 3 days, 6 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)