Here's another article on the same subject but also a talk from the Arthritis society about the effectiveness of mmj.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/college-family-physicians-gives-doctors-advice-prescribing-medical-181238577.html
Janet Yale, president and CEO of the Arthritis Society, said Health Canada records show that two-thirds of those licensed to buy or grow medical marijuana prior to the change in regulations were people with arthritis, and they likely continue to make up a large proportion of users.
"They live in pain, it's often untreated and they have historically suffered in silence, so we've made pain alleviation a real priority of our work, both in terms of our research agenda and our care agenda."
The society announced Monday that it will be funding patient trials into the safety and efficacy of cannabis in treating arthritis. It is also calling on other health charities, governments and licensed growers to fund research into the herb to help both patients and doctors make informed decisions about its use.
"We don't know its effectiveness in managing pain and fatigue caused by arthritis and other chronic disease. We just don't have good studies on that," said Yale, adding that researchers need to determine optimal dosages based on the type of disease, what form of delivery is best — for instance, smoked, eaten or inhaled as a vapour — and what potential interactions pot has with other medications.
Mary Ryan, 46, has ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory form of arthritis that affects the joints in the spine, which has left her with often excruciating pain.
"Medical cannabis has made it possible for me to get through the day, despite my arthritis pain," said the fast-food industry worker, who has been using marijuana twice daily, baked into a cookie eaten in the morning and inhaled through a vaporizer in the evening.
"When you live with chronic pain, you're desperate for any option that offers some relief."
On a scale of one to 10, Ryan typically ranked her pain at about a seven until she started using marijuana," she said from Hamilton, Ont. "And my pain will go down to two or three, depending on the day. And it keeps me moving."
But she'd like to know much more about the herbal drug, including whether there's any potential danger from ingesting it or inhaling it as a vapour. "I do worry that there's a lot we don't know about it, including its possible risks and benefits."
Dr. Mark Ware, a pain specialist at the McGill University Health Centre, lauded the Arthritis Society for its decision to fund research into medical cannabis.
"We do know that patients with arthritis have been saying that pain management is a huge problem for them," he said from Montreal. "The drugs that are available for managing arthritis pain are of limited efficacy in some cases and have side-effects that are quite dangerous in some cases.
"They're looking for options and alternatives, and medical cannabis has some promise in terms of a therapy."
Anti-inflammatory medications, including products that contain acetaminophen or naproxen, for example, can cause gastric bleeding and kidney or liver damage with long-term use, said Ware, who has prescribed therapeutic pot to a small number of his patients.
"So there's a clear need for a new class of medications to come forward that can optimally provide some control. Cannabinoids are not going to be a miracle drug for everybody, but they may be one more piece of equipment in the toolbox."
Lemire said family doctors can be faced with patients requesting marijuana whose medical conditions are often complex, but the research on which to base a prescription is inadequate or entirely lacking.
She said it's critical that more research into the safety and effectiveness of cannabis for various diseases be conducted to help physicians make educated decisions in order to best treat their patients.
"We feel that it's important for physicians not to authorize marijuana for medical purposes just because a patient is requesting it," Lemire said. "So there really is a need to review the condition of the patient, look at therapeutic approaches that have been used in the past and ... to be better informed about the evidence that is or isn't there in relation to marijuana prescribing."