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Australian study finds no evidence to support cannabis for pain treatment IT’S ALL JUST SMOKE AND MIRRORS THEN, EH?

A four-year study involving 1,500 participants conducted by the University of NSW — one of the longest in-depth community studies looking into pharmaceutical opioids — has found very little evidence to support the use of cannabis in chronic pain treatment. Non-cancer participants using cannabis to manage chronic pain said they were not only suffering greater pain physically, but were also coping with anxiety. “In our study of people living with chronic non-cancer pain who were prescribed pharmaceutical opioids,” said lead author of the study, Dr Gabrielle Campbell, “despite reporting perceived benefits from cannabis use, we found no strong evidence that cannabis use reduced participants’ pain or opioid use over time.” And although the study itself found no clear evidence of cannabis helping with pain management, the participants themselves were none too keen to give it up, mostly because cannabis could be helping improve their sleep quality, in turn improving wellbeing.