Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 68
68
Paragraph: 234
How to read this label. It records the position parsed from the published government response. It is not an official government label and does not show whether action was delivered.
Support randomised control trials into effectiveness of CBPMs for chronic pain treatment.
Recommendation
We recommend that the Government supports researchers to conduct randomised control trials into the effectiveness of CBPMs to treat chronic pain. If the evidence base supports this, and it is deemed to be cost-effective, we recommend that the Government enables the use of CBPMs for this purpose and works with clinicians to ensure that it is a treatment option in appropriate cases.
Paragraph Reference:
234
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
The Government accepts this recommendation. Any researcher wanting to conduct Randomised Control Trials on the effectiveness of medicinal cannabis on chronic pain can ask the medicines regulator and the NIHR for scientific and research advice. NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including medicinal cannabis to treat chronic pain. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. NICE recommend that unlicensed medicinal cannabis is not offered to manage chronic pain in adults and that cannabidiol (CBD) medicines only be offered as part of a clinical trial.24 NICE recognises the lack of evidence to support the use of these medicines and recommends that further research be carried out on the clinical and cost effectiveness of CBD as an add-on treatment for adults with fibromyalgia or persistent treatment-resistant neuropathic pain. We are concerned by the harms that cannabis for non-medical use may pose, particularly in relation to young people. We do not believe that cannabis should be legalised and regulated for non-medical use.
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