A novel study from Canada has claimed that smoking marijuana assists in relieving pain; however, the level of relief varies from person to person.

There are many people who are surviving with chronic neuropathic or nerve pain due to improper functioning of their nervous system and a few treatments and medications options with varied efficacy levels are available to them. Besides, among those few, almost every treatment is associated with some kind of side-effects.

The study based on the analysis of the analgesic effects linked to smoking cannabis was spearheaded by Dr. Mark Ware and colleagues at McGill University.

The research published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, involved more than 21 individuals surviving with neuropathic pain.

Deemed to be the first outpatient clinical trial of smoked cannabis, the research is reported to have used three varied degrees of active drug — THC levels of 2.5%, 6% and 9.4%, in addition to 0% placebo.

"We found that 25 mg herbal cannabis with 9.4 per cent THC, administered as a single smoked inhalation three times daily for five days, significantly reduces average pain intensity compared with a zero per cent THC cannabis placebo in adult subjects with chronic post traumatic/post surgical neuropathic pain", the researchers concluded.