U.S. health officials are asking for research about how hemp-derived cannabinoids and other plant-derived treatments affect chronic pain.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, opened a four-week call for submission Wednesday. They’re conducting a systematic review on pain to “produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable and affordable.”
To do this, the AHRQ’s Evidence-based Practice Centers Program is asking the public to provide both published and unpublished studies in an effort to help inform its Living Systematic Review on Plant-Based Treatment for Chronic Pain.
The review will focus on:
- The benefit of cannabinoids for adults with chronic pain, including specific efficacy outcomes.
- The harm of cannabinoids in adults with chronic pain, including adverse effects.
- Cannabinoid delivery.
- Synthetic cannabinoids.
Submissions are due by Jan. 4.
Federal agencies have dedicated a significant amount of funding for research focused on the affects of cannabinoids on pain.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Women’s Health hosted a day-long conference discussing the different effects of cannabinoids on gender, during which researchers discussed ongoing studies currently for treating pain, anxiety, psychosis and drug addiction, among other issues.
One of those federal researchers, David Shurtleff, deputy director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the National Institute of Health, also presented the areas of interest in cannabinoid research at Colorado State University, Pueblo this month, according to CannabisWire.
Shurtleff said two minor cannabinoids, CBG and CBC, are of particular interest to NCCIH because early data suggests they could be effective for pain treatment.
“We’re very excited about looking more into these minor cannabinoids as possible analgesics,” Shurtleff said.
He added that research surrounding cannabinoid efficacy for curbing opioid use and addiction is exciting, and could have an “important impact on the public health crisis of opioid use.”
