Pubdate: Thu, 15 Dec 2011
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2011 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559

CANNABIS, OPIATES TEAM UP

Combination of Opiates, Marijuana Provides Effective Pain Relief

A University of California, San Francisco study has concluded that 
the combination of opiates and marijuana is a more effective means of 
pain relief than opiates alone.

Despite a small sample size of 21 chronic pain patients, the study's 
participants reported more pain relief when they introduced vaporized 
cannabis in addition to their regular doses of oxycodone or morphine, 
according to a UCSF press release. The study, which was published 
earlier this month in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, is the 
first of its kind to examine the interaction between cannabinoids and 
opiates in humans. While the original goal was to determine whether 
marijuana would alter opiate levels in the bloodstream, researchers 
were surprised with the results.

"This preliminary study seems to imply that people may be able to get 
away perhaps taking lower doses of the opiates for longer periods of 
time if taken in conjunction with cannabis," said Donald Abrams, the 
paper's lead author and professor of clinical medicine at UCSF.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom