CANNABIS CHRONIC PAIN BY ANTONIO DEROSE
MULTIPLE SCIENTIFIC STUDIES POINT AT CANNABIS BEING AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR MANAGING CHRONIC PAIN
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According to an academic manuscript published in Children (an international peerreviewed open access journal of pediatrics), chronic pain in children is an issue all over the world “With conservative estimates that posit 20% to 35% of children and adolescents affected by it worldwide.”1 Shockingly, the manuscript goes on to state, “Pain experienced in children’s hospitals is known to be common, under-recognized, and undertreated, with more than 10% of hospitalized children showing features of chronic pain. Although the majority of children reporting chronic pain are not greatly disabled by it, about 3% of pediatric chronic pain patients require intensive rehabilitation.”1 Since chronic pain in children is often underrecognized and under-treated, one could suggest many children carry their pain with them into adulthood. In fact, a report released by the CDC in September 2018 stated that there are 50 million adults in the United States who suffer from chronic pain. That’s 20.4% of the adult population, meaning almost 1 in 4 adults in the United States are suffering from chronic pain. Chronic pain is defined by the American Chronic Pain Association as “Pain that continues a month or more beyond the usual recovery period for an injury or illness or that goes on for months or years due to a chronic condition.” Many medical conditions are associated with isolated or wide-spread pain. The previously mentioned manuscript listed the most common chronic pain disorders in pediatrics being primary headaches, centrally mediated abdominal pain syndromes, and/or chronic musculoskeletal and joint pain.1
