Cannabis will be tested as a pain reliever on thousands of Brits who, if successful, could see the drug prescribed by the NHS.
In the trial of 5,000 participants with chronic pain, including arthritis, cannabis will be inhaled daily via an inhaler.
The whole plant cannabis will be administered via inhalers that vaporize the drug. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) will therefore assess whether cannabis will become an approved treatment for as many as 15 million adults.
Around one in three adults in the UK suffers from chronic pain, defined as pain lasting more than three months.
Cannabis in the NHS can prevent people from self-medicating through drug dealers or ordering drugs online, and may be safer than opioids, the traditional treatment for chronic pain conditions.
In the photo: a cannabis plant. The NHS will test cannabis as an analgesic drug, which could allow it to be prescribed to patients with chronic pain.
Pictured: an asthma inhaler. The trial will involve test patients who use cannabis daily through an inhaler.
Medical cannabis has been legalized in the UK since 2018. Three drugs have been approved for a rare form of epilepsy, including Epidyolex, a highly purified liquid containing cannabis extract (CBD). Only a handful of patients have NHS regulations.
Unlike other countries such as Germany, Canada, Israel and Australia, not all herbal treatments have been previously approved in the UK. The NHS says there is “some evidence that medicinal cannabis can help with some types of pain, but this evidence is not yet strong enough to recommend it for pain relief”.
Tony Samios of the private company LVL Health, who is leading the trial, told the Times that cannabis could be available on the NHS “in a few years”. “We hope to provide the data Nice and the NHS need to get prescriptions … millions of people can definitely benefit from it.”
The study, called Canpain, will run for the next three years and will be open to patients between the ages of 18 and 85 diagnosed with non-cancerous chronic pain. It begins this month with the first “feasibility study” involving 100 patients to confirm its safety, followed by 5,000 more patients through LVL Health’s chronic pain clinics.
One in three adults in the UK suffers from chronic pain, defined as pain lasting more than three months with conditions such as arthritis.
Costing £299 per patient per month, cannabis is delivered via tamper-proof cartridges in vaping devices.
“You have to eat it all at once, which takes about five minutes – you can’t take it out all day,” said Mr. Samios.
He added that patients are “affected by inhaling the whole flower, but you don’t actually drink it and obviously you don’t have all the carcinogens.”
The National Institute for Health and Care Research oversees studies of the substance’s effects on people with epilepsy.
Marijuana has been used to treat pain for thousands of years.
Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt are known to have used the substance, but in recent years the drug has fallen out of favor with the medical world.
Source: Daily Mail
I am Anne Johnson and I work as an author at the Fashion Vibes. My main area of expertise is beauty related news, but I also have experience in covering other types of stories like entertainment, lifestyle, and health topics. With my years of experience in writing for various publications, I have built strong relationships with many industry insiders. My passion for journalism has enabled me to stay on top of the latest trends and changes in the world of beauty.
