Cannabis improves pain and movement in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Cannabis use improved pain and movement in 20 patients with Parkinson’s disease according to an open study conducted by scientists Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva and the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Symptoms were assessed before and 30 minutes after cannabis inhalation and again after long-term use. Motor function was assessed with the Unified PD Rating scale (UPDRS) and pain with the Pain Rating Index (PRI) and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).

There was a significant improvement from baseline to 30 min after cannabis consumption in mean motor scores (38.1 to 30.4), pain according PRI (27 to 9.7) and pain VAS score (6.4 to 3.6). Authors concluded that cannabis “improved motor scores and pain symptoms in PD patients.” They wrote that “peripheral and central pathways are probably modulated by cannabis.”