POT MAY PROLONG PAIN, NOT RELIEVE IT: STUDY

(CNS) - Marijuana's painkilling properties are being called into
question by new research that suggests the drug can amplify and
prolong pain rather than relieve it.

A study published in the current issue of Science suggests
prescribing marijuana for pain relief, which is legal in a number of
countries, including Canada, may be counterproductive.

Experiments with rodents and humans found that a group of compounds
that includes cannabinoids, the active ingredients in marijuana, can
interfere with the body's mechanisms to stop pain signals from
reaching the brain.

"If you had a toothache, you probably wouldn't want to treat it with
marijuana, because you could actually make it worse," said University
of Texas professor Volker Neugebauer, one of the study's authors.

"Now, for more pathological conditions like neuropathic pain, where
the problem is a dysfunction within the nerves themselves and a
subsequent disturbance throughout the nervous system that's not
confined to the pain system, marijuana may be beneficial."

Health Canada allows those suffering from grave and debilitating
illnesses to access marijuana for medical use to treat severe pain
from conditions such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury,
cancer, arthritis and HIV/AIDS.

Researchers from the United States, Switzerland, Hungary, Japan,
Germany, France and Venezuela collaborated on the new research. They
found that endocannabinoids in the spinal cord suppress the body's
ability to put "the brakes" on pain signals, leaving pain with a
straight road to the brain.

"In the spinal cord there's a balance of systems that control what
information, including information about pain, is transmitted to the
brain," Prof. Neugebauer said.