Table 2.

Positive therapeutic trials treating chronic painful conditions with cannabinoids.^67–78

Type of Pain and Condition (if described)	Number of Subjects	Cannabinoid Type, Preparation	Dosage and Route	Treatment Duration	Study Design	Results	Author, Reference #
NEUROPATHIC PAIN
HIV	50	Marijuana	3.56% THC, smoked 3 tid	5d	RCT	Significant pain reduction in active treatment group	Abrams et al.67
Chronic NP pain	34	THC+CBD 1:1	Oral mucosal, variable dose	12 wks	RCT	Positive pain relief (not otherwise specified)	Notcutt et al.68
Chronic NP pain	21	CT-3 (THC analogue)	Oral, 20 mg bid × 4d, then 40 mg bid × 3d	7d	RCT cross-over	Significant decrease in hyperalgesia, allodynia, and VAS pain intensity scores	Karst etal.69
Multiple sclerosis	630	THC cannabis extract	Oral, variable dose	15 wks, with 52 wks continuation	RCT	Statistically significant reduction in pain scores and clinically meaningful sense of improvement	Zajicek et al.70
Multiple sclerosis	24	Dronabinol	Oral, 10 mg	3 wks	RCT cross-over	Significant pain reduction with active treatment	Svendsen et al.71
Multiple sclerosis	137	THC+CBD 1:1 (Sativex™)	Oral mucosal, variable dose	10 wks controlled trial followed by 52 wks open label	RCT and open label	Significant pain reduction with active treatment; continued pain relief in about half of long-term use patients	Wade et al.72
Multiple sclerosis	66	THC+CBD 1:1 (Sativex™)	Oral mucosal, variable dose	4 wks	RCT	Significant pain reduction with active treatment	Rog etal.73
Chronic NP pain conditions	24 total: MS−18; BPI−1 SCI−4; PLP−1	THC+CBD 1:1	Oral mucosal, variable dose	2 wks	RCT cross-over	Significant pain reduction with active treatment	Wade et al.74
Brachial plexus injury	48	THC-CBD 1:1 (Sativex™)) vs THC vs placebo spray	Oral mucosal, variable dose	3 × 2-week treatment periods	RCT cross-over	Significant pain reduction with both active treatments	Berman et al.75
Peripheral NP pain	125	THC+CBD 1:1 (Sativex™)	Oral mucosal, variable dose	5 wks controlled trial followed by 52 wks extension	RCT	Significant pain reduction with active treatment	Nurmikko etal.76
INFLAMMATORY PAIN
Rheumatoid arthritis	58	THC+CBD 1:1 (Sativex™)	Oral mucosal, variable dose	5 wks	RCT	Significant pain reduction in active treatment group both at rest and with movement	Blake et al.77
Acute pancreatitis	Not specified	HU-210 (synthetic CB, and CB2 agonist)	Oral	Not specified	Not specified	Significant pain reduction	Michalski et al.78

bid, twice a day; BPI, brachial plexus injury; CBD, cannabidiol; d, days; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; MS, multiple sclerosis; NP, neuropathic pain; PLP, phantom limb pain; RCT, randomized controlled trial; SCI, spinal cord injury; THC, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; tid, three times a day; wks, weeks.