Clinical Trials
New UK Cannabis Trial Brings Hope for a Pain-Free Future
A new UK cannabis trial could reach thousands of patients soon. The trial will study the use of pure full-flower cannabis for those suffering from chronic pain caused by illness, such as arthritis.
Private cannabis clinic LVL Health, alongside the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), will first conduct a feasibility study over a 3-month period on 100 patients to ascertain the viability of a further larger study of over 5000 patients in the next 3 years.
Safer and Less Addictive
A lot of research has already been undertaken globally to prove cannabis is much safer and less addictive than opioids – the most common treatment for chronic pain currently on the NHS.
Tony Samios, from the private firm LVL Health cannabis clinic, which is running the trial, said: “Doctors are very limited in what they can prescribe [for chronic pain]. The only course of treatment they really have is opioids, unfortunately. So, patients tend to seek other forms of pain management and alternative treatments that could be anything from acupuncture to physiotherapy.
“There is a great desire for patients who want cannabis prescribed on the NHS. Something like one-and-a-half million patients in the UK are buying illicit cannabis off the streets, self-medicating with a poor quality product, and having to deal with drug dealers.”
Despite research into how cannabis can help with the side effects of chemotherapy, or symptoms of illness commonly caused by cancer, the trial will only be targeting certain chronic pain sufferers.
Mr Samios told us: “Cancer pain comes from tumors pressing against other organs, and from nerve and tissue damage caused from cancer medication. This is not the cause of chronic pain which is inflammatory, muscle skeletal and neuropathy. These are the pain areas that cannabis can respond to and have shown to help in the past. Including cancer pain patients in the study will confound and distort the data.”
