Neuropathic pain is a form of chronic pain resulting from nerve injury, diabetes, chemotherapeutic treatments, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), multiple sclerosis, and herpes zoster infection (Shingles). Neuropathic pain is often resistant to conventional drug therapies. Cannabinoids, drugs that share the same target as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psycho-active ingredient in cannabis, have the potential to address this need.

Cannabinoids interfere with the body’s response to painful stimuli produced by traumatic nerve injury, disease, and toxins. Clinical studies largely affirm that neuropathic pain patients derive benefits from cannabinoid treatment. Subjective (rating scales) and objective (stimulus-evoked) measures of pain and quality of life are considered. More recently, cannabis has been shown to provide relief to patients that are unresponsive to other forms of treatment. This is primarily due to the substance’s relationship to the internal endocannabinoid system.

Peripheral nerves that detect pain sensations contain cannabinoid receptors and are impacted by any form of cannabis consumption. When THC and CBD enter your body, they activate your CB1 and CB2 receptors, which regulate the neurotransmitter and central nervous system, helping to manage pain levels.