More Australians are prescribed than ever Cannabis healing.
The healing quarrel refers back to the legally prescribed cannabis products. They are either the plant itself or naturally occurring ingredients extracted from the plant. These ingredients, similar to THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (Cannabidiol), are called cannabinoids. Some cannabinoids are also produced in laboratories to act like those within the plant.
The healing Cannaibia occurs in various forms, similar to oils, capsules, dried flower (utilized in a steamer), sprays and edible forms similar to jelly beans.
Because regulatory changes in 2016 made medical hemp more available, the Australian regulatory authority issued Over 700,000 approvals. (But healing hemp approval does not reflect the actual number of patients treated. One patient could have many approvals, and never all approved products are necessarily prescribed or supplied).
About half of the approvals concerned chronic pain, which is just not attributable to cancer.
In Australia, chronic pain affects one in five Australians aged 45 and older, with a big impact on people’s lives.
So what are the present evidence in regards to the effectiveness of hemp hemp in chronic pain?
What the evidence shows
AND 2021 Review of 32 randomized controlled tests The involvement of almost 5,200 people with chronic pain examined the consequences of marijuana or cannabinoids. The study showed a slight improvement in pain and physical functioning in comparison with placebo.
AND Previous review He stated that with the intention to achieve a 30% reduction in pain for one person, 24 people could be treated with medicinal marijuana.
Review 2021 also found slight sleep improvements and without coherent advantages for other measure of quality of life, in accordance with Previous reviews.
This does not mean that medicinal marijuana does not help anyone. However, he suggests that advantages are limited to fewer people.
Many pain specialists questioned whether evidence of therapeutic marijuana is sufficient to support it within the event of pain.
. Faculty of Medicine PainKnowledgeable body dedicated to the training and education of specialist pain doctors recommend that medical hemp be limited to clinical trials.
What does the regulator say?
Tips on the Australian regulator, Administration of therapeutic goods (TGA), about healing marijuana within the event of chronic non -cancer pain, reflects these uncertainty.
TGA states exist limited evidence of medicinal marijuana ensure clinically significant pain in lots of pain. Therefore, potential advantages in comparison with the damage ought to be considered a patient-patient.
TGA claims that medicinal marijuana should only be studied if other standard therapies are tried and didn’t provide sufficient pain relief.
When it involves the use of marijuana medical product, as a consequence of concerns in regards to the safety of inhaled marijuana, TGA believes that pharmaceutical class products (similar to Nabiximols or extracts containing THC and/or CBD) are safer.
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What about people who say it helps?
This evidence could also be contrary to the experience of people who report relief in healing marijuana.
In clinical practice, people often react in a different way depending on their health states, beliefs and lots of other aspects. What works well for one person may not work for an additional.
Research helps us understand what results are typical or expected for many people, but there’s a spread. Some people might imagine that healing marijuana improves pain, sleep or general well-being-especially if other treatments didn’t help.
What are the unintended effects and risk?
Like all medicine, medicinal marijuana potential unintended effects. They are frequently mild to moderate, including drowsiness or sedation, dizziness, impaired concentration, dry mouth, nausea and cognitive slowdown.
These unintended effects are sometimes greater for THC products with higher potency. They have gotten an increasing number of common on the Australian market. Thc products with high potency represent More than half of the approvals in 2025..
Generally in scientific research More people experience unintended effects than reporting the advantages of medical hemp.

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Medical Cannabis may affect other drugsEspecially people who cause drowsiness (similar to opioids), drugs for mental illness, counterpilers, blood thinning and immunosuppressive.
Even cannabidiol (CBD), which is just not considered intoxicating like THC, was related to serious drug interactions.
These risk is bigger when marijuana is prescribed by a physician who does not manage the patient’s chronic pain or does not contact other healthcare providers. Because healing marijuana is usually prescribed by separate teeth clinics, the fragmentated care may increase the danger of harmful interactions.
Another problem is to develop a disorder of the use of hemp (commonly understood as “addiction”). Found a study 2024 one in 4 people The use of medical hemp develops the use of cannabis. Symptoms of withdrawal – similar to irritability, sleep problems or hunger – can occur with frequent and intensive use.
For some people, tolerance may develop with prolonged use, which implies that it’s good to take higher doses to get the identical effect. This may increase the danger of developing cannabis use.
How is it compared with other treatments?
As much Drugs for chronic painThe effectiveness of healing marijuana is low and is just not really useful because the only treatment.
There is nice evidence that in conditions similar to back pain, interventions, similar to exercises, cognitive behavioral therapy and self -management education, may help and may have less risk than many medications.
But there are challenges related to how available and reasonably priced these treatments are for a lot of Australians, Especially outside the important cities.
So where does it leave patients?
The growing use of healing marijuana within the event of chronic pain reflects each a heavy load on the community and gaps in access to effective care. While some patients report advantages, current evidence suggests that they can be small for many people and have to be weighted in relation to the danger.
If you might be considering healing marijuana, it is essential to talk over with your strange healthcare provider, best knowing the total medical history, to provide help to determine about the very best approaches to provide help to treat pain.