MS Patients and Marijuana Use
Marijuana is often associated with effective pain relief, making it a substance sought for help with chronic conditions. However, its side effects make it a controversial pain relief solution, causing physicians and patients to look elsewhere for pain treatment.
Marijuana is sometimes used in treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), an auto-immune disease that causes problems in the brain and spinal cord, helping patients with pain and bladder dysfunction and spasticity. However, a study published in the March 29 issue of the journal Neurology suggests that any benefits experienced by using marijuana to treat MS may be outweighed by the drug’s effects on cognitive function.
The study was conducted with two groups of 25 participants each, all between the ages of 18 and 65 and who had been diagnosed with MS. One group used marijuana to treat symptoms while the other group’s members had no recent history of marijuana use. The researchers used urine tests to verify marijuana use.
The two groups were carefully constructed to avoid differences between age, gender, level of education, IQ at baseline, level of disability and duration of time since diagnosis of MS.
The average duration of marijuana use was 26 years. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of the marijuana users reported that they smoked marijuana daily, while 24 percent indicated that they used marijuana on a weekly basis. One person used it bi-weekly.
The researchers tested the participants’ cognitive skills. The results of the analysis showed that those who used marijuana had significantly lower scores in attention levels, thinking speed, executive function and visual perception of spatial relationships. Those who used marijuana were also twice as likely to have impairment on two or more aspects of intellectual functioning, a problem designated as globally cognitively impaired.
Anthony Feinstein, MPhil, MD, PhD, of the Sunnybrook Health Services Center and the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, is the lead author of the study. Feinstein explains that because a large number of MS patients already have problems with cognitive functions, the added impairment caused by marijuana is a concern.
Feinstein stresses that the evidence offered by the study showing a connection between marijuana use and cognitive impairment should be carefully considered by patients before utilizing marijuana as a solution for pain and other symptoms of MS.
Further research may include studies that weigh the benefits of marijuana against symptoms of other types of chronic conditions. Though it has been long encouraged by some as a medical solution for treating patients, its associated cognitive functioning problems may cause it to lose favor as a treatment.
