In a column recent , a French nutritherapist contrasted paracetamol with cannabis or rather cannabidiol (CBD) for the relief of chronic pain. If the first is one of the most common drugs in the world, the emerging CBD in France is still quite marginal.
Let's start by introducing the two "fighters". The first is none other than the famous paracetamol, a chemical compound used as an analgesic (painkiller) and antipyretic (anti-fever). However, it is one of the most widely used and prescribed drugs in the world. In France, the most famous is undoubtedly Doliprane. Every year in our country it sells more than one hundred million boxes .
On the other side of the ring we find cannabidiol (CBD). This molecule is one of the many cannabinoids found in hemp (or weed). Not to be confused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD does not generate any psychotropic effects. Today in France, shops taking advantage of an absence of bans bloom here and there. These offer dried flowers, resin, oil and other by-products.
These two substances were put face to face in a column published in We Demain on January 6, 2021. Its author is Jean Paul Curtay, nutritherapist and author member of the Center de Formation en Nutritherapy and Applied Phytotherapy (CFNA) located in Namur (Belgium).
The person concerned explains that analgesics but also anti-inflammatories (eg Ibuprofen) are in the top three drugs that kill, mainly in the event of an overdose. However, today, twelve million French people suffer from chronic pain. Jean Paul Curtay therefore evokes CBD as an interesting alternative to paracetamol. Soon, French doctors will also be able to prescribe mixtures of CBD and THC. An experiment concerning this "medical cannabis" (or therapeutic) initially planned for September 2020 should finally begin in January 2021 (on 3,000 people).
The nutritherapist recalls that numerous studies have already proven the existence of anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-nausea effects. Today, medical use (already in place or in the process of being tested) is already taking place in half of the states of the United States, in Canada, in Israel or in certain countries in Europe and South America. .
Finally, let's talk about the possibility that medical cannabis may have more potential. It could indeed be useful to soothe neuropathic pain related to nerve damage or muscle spasticity for patients with multiple sclerosis or stroke. Medical cannabis is also intended for patients with epilepsy or in palliative care.
