If Cheech and Chong had sickle cell disease, chances are they wouldn’t have felt nuthin’.
A University of Minnesota medical school research team said Thursday that cannabinoids, a synthetic compound based on marijuana derivatives, could effectively ease pain in patients suffering from sickle cell disease (SCD).
SCD is a genetic blood disorder in which red blood cells form crescent shapes, a configuration that makes it hard for cells to pass through small blood vessels. The disease causes significant pain and could result in stroke and damage to vital organs.
SCD has no cure and doctors can only provide pain relief through opioids like morphine and codeine. By studying the nerve pathways of mice experiencing musculoskeletal pain and temperature sensitivity, two traits associated with SCD, university scientists say cannabinoids reduced pain just as well as opioids and in significantly smaller doses.
The research, led by Kalpna Gupta, can be found in the most recent issue of the journal Blood.
“This paper provides proof that we can use other classifications of drugs to treat pain in patients with sickle cell disease,” Gupta said. “Cannabinoids offer great promise in the treatment of chronic and acute pain, and they’re effective in much lower amounts than opioids — the only currently approved treatment for this disease.”
