Over 600,000 Americans are turning to cannabis to kiss chronic pain goodbye and science is totally backing them up. Gold-standard clinical trials (the real deal) have shown cannabis can cut pain by a whopping 40 percent for folks grappling with serious health curveballs like nerve pain (hello, diabetes), spinal cord injuries, HIV, complex regional pain syndrome, cancer, chemo woes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and plain old cranky muscles and joints. That’s straight out of the 2017 NASEM report, not just an anecdotal story.
If you’re wondering if it’s just a human thing: even arthritic lab rats got some ease from cannabis in a Canadian study. Oddly enough, we don’t have solid human data yet for osteoarthritis – that super common wear-and-tear joint issue that haunts half of adults over 65. But hey, clinical trials are on it.
Meanwhile, some aren’t waiting for science to play catch-up. In a 2019 Colorado survey, arthritis was the #1 reason older adults reached cannabis followed closely by back pain. And guess what? A cool 79 percent said it worked like magic.
Looks like cannabis is giving “grin and bear it” a well-deserved timeout.
