Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital found that patients taking cannabinoid medicines for pain may be getting "high," but these effects were unrelated to relief from their pain symptoms. Results of their study, one of the first to examine the addictive potential of this class of pain medicine, were presented today at the American Academy of Pain Medicine's 25th Annual Meeting.
In the study, Ajay Wasan, MD MSc and colleagues found that when used for non-cancer pain management, the cannabinoid class of medicines (such as dronabinol), got patients "high," but the majority of subjects experienced significant pain relief independent of these psychoactive effects. Results indicate that these medicines have the likelihood of an addiction similar to smoking marijuana, leading researchers to conclude the abuse potential of this class should be studied further.