Medicinal marijuana reduces pain from peripheral neuropathy, say scientists: NewsTarget.com

In one of the few extensive tests of marijuana's medical benefits, a study by researchers at the San Francisco General Hospital has shown the drug can ease HIV-related pain in some patients.

From 2003 to 2005 researchers studied 50 HIV positive patients with peripheral neuropathy, a foot pain related to HIV for which there is currently no specific drug treatment. Half of the patients smoked marijuana cigarettes three times daily for a week, while the other half of the participants smoked placebo cigarettes that were free of tetrahydrocannabinol -- the active ingredient of marijuana -- in what the scientists report is the first trial to use a comparison group. The cigarettes were machine rolled by staff at the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the only place the drug can be obtained legally.

According to the results published in the Feb. 12 issue of the journal Neurology, the marijuana-smoking group reported an average 34 percent reduction of pain on a scientific scale, while the placebo group reported only a 17 percent drop.

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Medicinal marijuana significantly reduces pain from peripheral neuropathy, say scientists

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