Pain relief from marijuana comes from a belief it helps, study finds

From CNN | Health by Sandee LaMotte, CNN

Some people suffering pain from cancer and other chronic diseases turn to marijuana to ease their suffering, but much of that relief may come from simply believing weed will help, a new study found.

In research, the tendency to have positive expectations that a dummy pill, procedure or treatment will help is called the placebo effect.

“The placebo response amounted to 67% of the pain relief associated with genuine cannabinoids,” said lead author Karin Jensen, an associate professor and research group leader in the pain neuroimaging lab at the Karolinska Institutet in the Stockholm area.

Photo by Ira Evva / Getty Images

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