Cannabinoid Medicine and Pain Management

[grace]

Cannabinoid medicine is an exciting new medical field, and Goleta pain management specialist David Bearman, M.D., is right in the middle of it.

 

Dr. Bearman has practiced on the South Coast since founding the Isla Vista Neighborhood Clinic in 1970. For many years, he was the medical director and then a deputy director of the local Medi-Cal managed-care program, the Santa Barbara Regional Health Authority (now CenCal Health).

 

Cannabis and Cannabinoids for AnalgesiaOver 20,000 scientific studies have been done on cannabis and cannabinoids. Both animal and human studies have demonstrated the analgesic effects of anandemine and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (naturally occurring cannabinoids). As more is learned from studies, the pain management community is recognizing the analgesic utility of cannabis and cannabinoids.

 

Sativex, produced by GW Pharmaceuticals in England, is a whole-plant alcohol extract composed of two different cannabis strains — one high in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for therapeutic value, the other high in cannabidiol, which blocks THC-induced euphoria and is also therapeutic. Sativex is governmentally approved for relief of multiple sclerosis patients’ muscle spasm and pain for treatment of neuropathic and intractable pain. It is marketed in Canada, Great Britain by Bayer AG and in Spain by Almirall.

 

Recently, the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research(CMCR) at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine released a report on more than 18 FDA-approved, double blind studies done at four University of California medical schools in the last 10 years. Igor Grant, M.D., psychiatric department Vice Chair at UCSD Medical School and CMRC Director says, “I think the evidence is getting better and better that marijuana or the constituents of cannabis are useful at least in the adjunctive treatment of neuropathy.â€

 

American Academy of Cannabinoid MedicineDr. Bearman is a cofounder of the American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine (AACM). The AACM is an organization of health care professionals that support high standards of practice in cannabinoid medicine and the dissemination of the latest and best scientific information relating to medicinal cannabis and cannabinoids. For more information, please visit www.aacmsite.org.

 

Dr. Bearman’s pain management practice includes not only the prescribing of conventional opiates and muscle relaxant medications, but also the medicinal use of cannabis and cannabinoids. Dr. Bearman can be reached at (805) 961-9988, or by visiting www.davidbearmanmd.com.

Date: 21 December 2010

Source: MD News

http://www.mdnews.com/news/2010_12/05812_dec2010_cannabinoid-medicine-and-pain-management

[*Ryno*]

Awesome, we need some of those medicinal marijuana research centres here in Australia.

[dryasadesert]

I wish people were more open minded to the medicinal uses behind marijuana, i love how alcoholics shoot it down, yet i would bet bottom dollar alcohol destroys your body more than weed ever could!

[CactusGumnut]

I wish people were more open minded to the medicinal uses behind marijuana, i love how alcoholics shoot it down, yet i would bet bottom dollar alcohol destroys your body more than weed ever could!

 

It's no contest, and no more studies need to be done. Alcohol is worse for you than Cannabis, fact.

I don't have chronic back pain or anything, but I've found that if I have a hard day of work and I'm feeling a bit sore in the back, a few tokes of the good stuff and the pain is enormously numbed, much more than the numbing effect of alcohol.