Many patients who suffer from multiple sclerosis want to know if cannabis (marijuana) can cure this autoimmune disease, or at least, effectively treat the condition.
“Cannabis would be considered a part of symptomatic management for MS,” says Mitzi J. Williams, MD, clinical neurologist with Morehouse School of Medicine and clinical advisor for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
“This is distinct from disease modifying therapy which are medications that try to affect the immune system over-activity that leads to nerve damage and MS symptoms.
“There is currently no known cure for MS, but there are treatments that can slow the progress of disease and prevent relapses.
“There is limited research about cannabis and ‘cannabinoid’ compounds, that suggests that some patients may report improvement in symptoms such as pain and spasticity (cramping).
“Now that THC is legalized in some states, we hope to see more standardized research results about effectiveness in symptom treatment.”
Research is ongoing to see if the compounds in cannabis might be able to help reduce or even prevent inflammation in the brain and spinal cord.
A Study Shows Promise
A study carried out by Tel Aviv University (report appears in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology 2013 shows some promise — but the subjects were mice.
Remember, MS is an autoimmune disease in which immune cells attack the brain and spinal cord, causing the classic MS symptoms.
The immune cells of the mice responded to cannabis compounds; the cells produced fewer inflammatory molecules, namely interleukin 17.
The cannabis compounds subdued the rodents’ immune cells from spouting out the inflammatory molecules.
As a result, there was less harm to the brain and spinal cord.
Though this study has researchers intrigued, they are still quite a ways off from developing an outright cure from cannabis — or from any other substance, for that matter.
In the meantime, cannabis (CBD oil) is well-known for reducing the severity of multiple sclerosis’ symptoms.
