Addiction and Pain Medicine

The adequate cotreatment of chronic pain and addiction disorders is a complex and challenging problem for health care professionals. There is great potential for cannabinoids in the treatment of pain; however, the increasing prevalence of recreational cannabis use has led to a considerable increase...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Douglas Gourlay
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2005-01-01
Series:Pain Research and Management
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2005/512653
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832562154687954944
author Douglas Gourlay
author_facet Douglas Gourlay
author_sort Douglas Gourlay
collection DOAJ
description The adequate cotreatment of chronic pain and addiction disorders is a complex and challenging problem for health care professionals. There is great potential for cannabinoids in the treatment of pain; however, the increasing prevalence of recreational cannabis use has led to a considerable increase in the number of people seeking treatment for cannabis use disorders. Evidence that cannabis abuse liability is higher than previously thought suggests that individuals with a history of substance abuse may be at an increased risk after taking cannabinoids, even for medicinal purposes. Smoked cannabis is significantly more reinforcing than other cannabinoid administration methods. In addition, it is clear that the smoked route of cannabis delivery is associated with a number of adverse health consequences. Thus, there is a need for pharmaceutical-grade products of known purity and concentration using delivery systems optimized for safety. Another factor that needs to be considered when assessing the practicality of prescribing medicinal cannabinoids is the difficulty in differentiating illicit from prescribed cannabinoids in urine drug testing. Overall, a thorough assessment of the risk/benefit profile of cannabinoids as they relate to a patient’s substance abuse history is suggested.
format Article
id doaj-art-84599dcb90ef461896f699027d99b512
institution Kabale University
issn 1203-6765
language English
publishDate 2005-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Pain Research and Management
spelling doaj-art-84599dcb90ef461896f699027d99b5122025-02-03T01:23:18ZengWileyPain Research and Management1203-67652005-01-0110Suppl A38A43A10.1155/2005/512653Addiction and Pain MedicineDouglas Gourlay0Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaThe adequate cotreatment of chronic pain and addiction disorders is a complex and challenging problem for health care professionals. There is great potential for cannabinoids in the treatment of pain; however, the increasing prevalence of recreational cannabis use has led to a considerable increase in the number of people seeking treatment for cannabis use disorders. Evidence that cannabis abuse liability is higher than previously thought suggests that individuals with a history of substance abuse may be at an increased risk after taking cannabinoids, even for medicinal purposes. Smoked cannabis is significantly more reinforcing than other cannabinoid administration methods. In addition, it is clear that the smoked route of cannabis delivery is associated with a number of adverse health consequences. Thus, there is a need for pharmaceutical-grade products of known purity and concentration using delivery systems optimized for safety. Another factor that needs to be considered when assessing the practicality of prescribing medicinal cannabinoids is the difficulty in differentiating illicit from prescribed cannabinoids in urine drug testing. Overall, a thorough assessment of the risk/benefit profile of cannabinoids as they relate to a patient’s substance abuse history is suggested.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2005/512653
spellingShingle Douglas Gourlay
Addiction and Pain Medicine
Pain Research and Management
title Addiction and Pain Medicine
title_full Addiction and Pain Medicine
title_fullStr Addiction and Pain Medicine
title_full_unstemmed Addiction and Pain Medicine
title_short Addiction and Pain Medicine
title_sort addiction and pain medicine
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2005/512653
work_keys_str_mv AT douglasgourlay addictionandpainmedicine