As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California (MCSoCal) I regularly evaluate patients with chronic pain for a medical marijuana recommendation. (approximately 65% of the patients I see are for pain) The question that many patients ask is: How does marijuana reduce pain? Although cannabinoids (medically active ingredients in marijuana) effects on pain have been studied there is a lot of research left to do. My goal of this post is to break down “barney-style” how cannabis reduces pain. I am not going to bore you with the specific scientific details as you will most likely fall asleep like I often do reading typical double-blind placebo studies!
OK here it is. The brain is considered our central nervous system. The spinal cord and the nerves that exit the spinal cord that project to all of the organs, muscles, vessels and skin are considered the peripheral nervous system (there is also an autonomic nervous system but ignore that for now) Think of nerves like the electrical wiring that runs throughout the house. To keep this simple let’s take the bones and tissues of the knees (a common complaint I see is arthritis of the knee) If you have pain in the knee it is because the nerves (wires) that originate at the knee are in a very excited state. They get activated and send the signal through the nerve (headed to the brain ultimately) which makes it first connection in the spinal cord.
Once at the spinal cord that nerve typically connects and communicates (via neurotransmitters… chemicals that allow one nerve to communicate with another) with a new nerve in the spinal cord which runs all the way up the spinal cord and terminates in the brain.
Once in the brain that signal is processed and it sends it back down a new set of nerves (originating in the brain) which run back down through the spinal cord. So thus far we have knee—–>Spinal Cord—–>Brain—–>Back down spinal Cord—–> lastly a nerve leaves the spinal cord and ends back at the knee where ultimately the patient feels pain.
They way marijuana works (that we know of thus far) is that it specifically binds to a receptor on the nerves themselves and blocks or slows down the transmission of pain up and down the spinal cord to the brain. The electrical wiring (nervous system) in our body has what we call receptors on it along the way (Think of receptors as door locks). Each of these locks has a specific key that opens it and causes it to have a specific function. When you inhale cannabis you inhale specific “keys” that go and search out these specific locks on the nerves. When they find them they bind to them and cause the nerve to be less excitable which ultimately slows the transmission of pain throughout the nervous system.
Now, in my effort to keep things simple and stupid I know that there are scientists out there who will read this and say… “yeah but thats not exactly how it works.” However, in a more general sense this is how marijuana reduces pain in the body.
If you are a person that wants to get into the nitty-gritty science behind this you can read plenty of studies which discuss the physiology of CB1 and CB2 receptors. The CMCR at UCSD has published a study on cannabinoid analgesia and it is accessible online.
If you suffer from pain and would like to discuss using cannabis to improve the quality of your life please feel free to make and appointment to come in and see me at my Irvine or Long Beach CA office. Simply call 877-721-0047 or pre-qualify for FREE at www.mcsocal.com
Be blessed,
Dr. Breen
