The effectiveness of oral cannabis extracts for osteoarthritic pain: an internal pilot, placebo controlled, blinded randomized trial

Nearly 5 million Canadians live with osteoarthritis, a disease that causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling that can interfere with daily functioning and quality of life. Many people with osteoarthritis either use cannabis or want to try using cannabis to manage their osteoarthritis pain. Unfortunately, although cannabis products are useful to manage some kinds of pain, it is not yet known if they are helpful for managing osteoarthritis pain because there have not been any high-quality research studies in this area. We would like to conduct a high-quality study that will examine whether the two main active ingredients in cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), are effective in managing osteoarthritis-related pain. Before proceeding with this large trial, we need to test our study procedures with a pilot study. This will ensure the success of our large trial, which is resource-intensive and time-consuming. This pilot study will include 100 patients with osteoarthritis who will be selected by chance to receive oil containing either CBD alone, CBD combined with THC, or placebo for 8 weeks without knowing which medication they are taking. Participants will answer questions about their pain, sleep, functioning, and any side effects throughout the study and we will compare answers between the three groups (CBD, CBD+THC, and placebo). If the pilot study shows that the larger study is feasible, the large study will provide the first high-quality information about whether oral cannabis products help in managing symptoms related to osteoarthritis, and how safe cannabis products are for use in these patients. This will help physicians and patients decide whether it is appropriate to use these cannabis products to manage osteoarthritis pain and related symptoms.