A new study published by researchers at Syracuse University further bolsters the evidence that cannabidiol may be an effective treatment for chronic pain. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the many cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. Unlike its high-inducing cousin, THC, CBD is not psychoactive and largely extracted from hemp plants that contain 0.3% THC or less. Especially in the wake of America’s opioid crisis, many have turned to safer nutraceuticals like CBD for pain relief.
Although many long-term pain sufferers swear by CBD’s effectiveness for injuries and conditions like arthritis, the data to back up these claims has been lacking. The legal status of cannabis has been a persistent roadblock to researching any of its compounds, psychoactive or not. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized the cultivation of hemp containing ≤0.3% THC and eliminated much of the red tape preventing serious cannabis research.
A research team led by Martin De Vita and Stephen Maisto of Syracuse’s psychology department looked into how effective cannabidiol is at treating pain and to what degree the placebo effect plays a role. They began their work with one of the first comprehensive meta-analyses of previous research on CBD and pain response.
“For science and the public at large the question remained, is the pain relief that CBD users claim to experience due to pharmacological effects or placebo effects,” says De Vita. “That’s a fair question because we know that simply telling someone that a substance has the ability to relieve their pain can actually cause robust changes in their pain sensitivity. These are called expectancy effects.”
To determine the true impact of CBD, they conducted a pain trial using equipment to safely induce mild discomfort from a heat source in participants. After measuring the initial response from the nervous system, they gave the participant either pure CBD isolate oil or a placebo. They then repeated the pain response trigger to measure any noticeable difference.
The results were insightful. While there was not a noticeable reduction in pain intensity, the way that the participant experienced the pain was different.
“It’s not sunshine and rainbows pleasant, but something slightly less bothersome,” says De Vita. “We replicated that in this study and found that CBD and expectancies didn’t significantly reduce the volume of the pain, but they did make it less unpleasant—it didn’t bother them as much.”
This research not only clarifies the role of CBD for pain relief but also our multifaceted relationship with pain and how we experience it. As De Vita’s team only worked with CBD oil for a brief period, further studies will be anticipated that examine how other CBD supplements like edible gummies, topical ointments, and smokable CBD flower interact with pain as well as the benefits of supplementing CBD daily.
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