Many people use CBD to control pain, and the anecdotal evidence supports such use. Now, a new article in Journal Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology (https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/pha0000465) finally gives us real data on CBD and pain. From the authors introduction:
Despite its frequent use for pain relief, no experimental pain research has tested the analgesic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) in humans. The goal of this study was to experimentally test the effects of CBD and expectancies for receiving CBD on human pain reactivity.
The authors recruited 15 healthy adults to participate in the study. The were given CBD or placebo, then they rated their pain. The results from the authors:
Pain unpleasantness was significantly reduced in the drug, expectancy, and expectancy + drug conditions, relative to the control condition.
What this means is that compared to placebo, CBD is effective for pain relief. Interestingly, when the subjects were informed that they we taking CBD, the effects were stronger. This is the placebo effect, and is very common with psychoactive drugs. Patients just given placebo and were told they were taking CBD had some positive effects, but less than the CBD subjects.
The authors conclude:
Our results indicated that separate pain outcomes can be differentially affected by CBD and/or expectancies for receiving CBD. Future investigations of the psychological and pharmacological mechanisms underlying CBD analgesia are warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
What does all this mean? This is the first scientific study that demonstrates analgesia from CBD. Now we have data to support our thoughts that CBD is an excellent agent for chronic pain relief.
One can only hope for more real data, to damp down the hype of cannabinoids, while simultaneously promoting the true potential of these compounds.
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