Pain Australia draft recommends medicinal cannabis as last resort for pain sufferers

In a draft released on 12 March 2019, Pain Australia has recommended medicinal cannabis as a last resort to those suffering from pain. The report, Prescribing Guidance: Prescribing Cannabis Medicines for Non-Cancer Pain states that there is a severe lack of information and "well-designed clinical studies" on medicinal cannabis and its role in treating chronic pain. Pain Australia believes there is insufficient data, such as randomised controlled trials or systematic reviews, that enable definitive statements on the effectiveness of medicinal cannabis. Pain sufferers may have to wait a bit longer in Australia One of the longest studies in Australia on cannabis and chronic pain was published in July 2018 on The Lancet Public Health. The study concluded that there was no evidence cannabis use and improved the outcomes of patients with pain. Keep in mind the study was a simple questionnaire based self-assessment. No controlled trials were used and the cannabis was likely sourced illegally and therefore varying wildly in chemical dosage and quality. Pain Australia has come to the conclusion that:

Despite the lack of an evidence-base, medicinal cannabis may be considered an option of last resort where a range of other therapies have been exhausted.

While they can't get behind medicinal cannabis for pain relief as a viable treatment just yet, the organisation "supports current efforts to enable expedient access to medicinal cannabis where it has been correctly prescribed". The publication was reviewed by Dr Malcolm Hogg, Head of Pain Services at the Royal Melbourne Hospital Melbourne Health. You can download the report here.