A new study has found that pills made from the chief ingredient of marijuana are more effective in relieving pain than smoking the dried flowers, Medical Xpress reported.
Doctors treating cancer and multiple sclerosis have carefully been observing more effective forms of using cannabis for relieving patients from pain. The use of cannabis has been legalized in many countries for medicinal use. Smoking marijuana carries its own health risks due to the respiratory irritants and carcinogens present. Usually, marijuana smoke is inhaled deeply and held inside for longer to gain maximum effect.
A new scientific study by neuroscientists in the United States is the first of its kind which compares smoking marijuana with pills made of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a chief psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
The team of researchers was led by Ziva Cooper and Margaret Haney of Columbia University in New York. For the study, 15 male and 15 female regular cannabis smokers volunteered, to test the maximum effect of marijuana as a pill or being smoked. Researchers also added a similar non-active pill as placebo. Researchers carried out a "cold pressor test," wherein the participants were asked to dip a hand into a bath of extremely cold water for two minutes. They were asked to report on feeling any pain.
Researchers found participants who took THC pills had a greater sense of pain resistance than those who smoked marijuana or took the placebo. The THC pill had a long-lasting reduction in pain compared to marijuana.
Since the study was conducted on a small scale, researchers conclude by saying that more research is needed to compare the effects of the THC pill with non-smokers as well.
The study was published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology on Monday.
