Despite the lack of precise clinical proof, the use of CBD in managing pain has been embraced by many institutions and individuals. They clamor to institutionalize the use of CBD and make it available for consumption under a regulated set-up.
The good news is NIH or National Institutes of Health has tapped nine new research awards to aimed at proving the claim that CBD can help alleviate chronic pain. The series of research is funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), at an amount of $3 million.
According to Helene Langevin, Director and M.D. of NCCIH, “The treatment of chronic pain has relied heavily on opiods... There is an urgent need for more effective and safer options.”
Research has proven that CBD is an effective way to deal with pain, in many cases. According to the experts, the cannabis plant has minor cannabinoids and terpenes that may have some analgesic properties that are useful in pain management. Still there is not a huge amount of research on the effect of these substances and their relation with pain. Research has been done only on THC, but the cannabis plant has 110 cannabinoids or more and 120 terpenes that still need to be researched.
CBD is a natural product, having no side effects. However, it is desirable to know more about CBD, whether it works, what it does in our body and how it deals with pain. Below are some recent studies on CBD:
Here are the nine researches that gathered grants and few details about them:
- Optimization and Mechanism of CBD-Mediated Analgesic Effects: A research by Boston Children’s Hospitalto prove that potassium-chloride cotransporter 2 (KCC2) can regulate and modulate the effects of CBD and other cannabinoids when it’s used as a pain reliever.
- Neuroimmune Mechanisms of Cannabinoids in Neuropathic and Inflammatory Pain: University of California, San Francisco to discover the effects of CBD on neuropathic pain as well as inflammation when cannabinoids interacts with TRPV1 and CB1R.
- Minor Cannabinoids and Terpenes: Research Triangle Institute to prove the efficacy of purified biosynthesized minor cannabinoids together with an amount of terpene to relieve pain for acute thermal, neuropathic, pain in the area of the chest and lungs, as well as inflammation.
- Finding the Mechanisms of Action for CBD on acute Arthritis Pain: New York University School of Medicine to investigate the effect of CBD to relieve chronic pain in arthritis.
- Synthetic Biology for the Chemogenetic Manipulation of Pain Pathways: University of Texas, Austin to prove the successful interaction (CB2) and minor cannabinoids and come up with new variants. This will be conducted on a mouse in pain.
- Identifying the Mechanisms of Cannabidiol Using Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy:To prove that after administration of CBD and with the use of (1H-MRS), changes in brain chemistry will be observed that will process pain.
- Mechanistic Studies of Effects of Terpene Enriched Extracts from Hops:An experiment to determine if a plant called Humulus lupulus (hops), which is somewhat related to cannabis, will have the same analgesic effect.
- Investigation of Rare Cannabinoids With Pain Receptors: To synthesize variants of rare phytocannabinoids and evaluate its anti-inflammatory effects.
- Analgesic effects of single and combined minor cannabinoids and terpenes:To discover if the four biologically active components of cannabis will interact positively with morphine in pain management.
