Using Cannabis for Pain? Two Mistakes to Avoid

The two most common mistakes people make when using cannabis for pain are treating a recreational joint as if it were a dosed medicine, and assuming the evidence is stronger than it is. Research on cannabinoids for pain shows modest results at best, so the smart move is to use them with a doctor's guidance rather than on your own. First, a quick primer: "cannabinoids" here means medicines made from the Cannabis sativa plant, either extracted from it or synthesized in a lab, and used for therapeutic purposes.

They can be taken by mouth, under the tongue, through the nose or on the skin, since they can be smoked, inhaled, mixed into food or brewed as tea.

Cannabis is a natural product with hundreds of active compounds, and its exact makeup can be hard to pin down. It has been used as medicine for thousands of years, with many potential benefits. That's why, when we talk about using it to treat conditions or as a medical therapy, we're often really talking about CBD, one of the most interesting active compounds in the plant. 

Cannabidiol (better known as CBD) is a chemical compound from the Cannabis sativa plant, which includes both marijuana and hemp. A prescription form of CBD is used for certain seizure disorders (epilepsy). CBD is also used for anxiety, pain, a muscle disorder called dystonia, Parkinson's disease, Crohn's disease and many other conditions that researchers around the world are still studying.

Because it isn't psychoactive (it doesn't get you high), CBD can be sold, at least in Argentina, under certain restrictions and guidelines. That's one of its big advantages.

Still, when it comes time to use it, ideally you'll have a cannabis specialist in your corner, because people commonly make the two mistakes below. 

Mistake #1

A lot of people mix up cannabis in general with CBD, the compound that's actually used as medicine. That misunderstanding leads to the first mistake: thinking that smoking a joint is the same as taking medication. It isn't, because there's no way to know or control the dose. 

So it's important to tell the difference between recreational use, smoking weed without medical oversight, and using a medicine that's regulated, formulated by a lab and, in the end, based on that same CBD. 

Mistake #2

Humans have known about cannabis for thousands of years, but prohibition, misuse, the illegal trade and much more have left a serious lack of clinical evidence. 

We're dealing with an ancient plant, used for all kinds of ailments and treatments, that still has a lot left to explore, from its other uses to its full potential. 

There's reasonably good evidence that cannabinoids can help control nausea and vomiting in cancer patients, may lift the mood of some of those patients and have some pain-relieving properties. But because there's so little research, the guidance on what works keeps changing.

Many people report real benefits from using cannabis, but there's no robust scientific evidence that cannabinoids, at any dose or by any route, deliver significant pain relief. Right now, what we know is that cannabinoids, cannabis or CBD show low to very low effectiveness as painkillers. Some studies have even found a negative effect.  

Because the information out there is limited, sometimes false or still being studied, we at CosechaLibre recommend using CBD carefully, with a prescription and under a doctor's supervision, to treat different conditions or ailments. 

Our ancestors relied on this plant for all sorts of things, and that history counts, but it isn't a substitute for evidence. So our position is simple: if you use it for pain, do it with a doctor's guidance, and we'll keep pushing for more national research in Argentina so more people can access it and enjoy a better quality of life. 

The bottom line: if you're dealing with pain, talk to a doctor before you reach for cannabis.