[420 Girl]

University of California system researchers have concluded that smoking pot provides effective relief of pain-related medical conditions.

But the first major study on the effects of marijuana in two decades also indicated that pot smokers can achieve the same pain reduction at low doses as higher doses -- meaning they don't have to get high to obtain relief for medical conditions.

The long-running research was done by the state-funded Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC San Diego.

"We found that low-strength (doses of smoked marijuana) was as good as high strength in resolving pain," said one of the researchers, Dr. Barth Wilsey, a UC Davis specialist in pain medicine and anesthesiology. "But the lower dose did not cause confusion."

The center, whose findings are published online, was paid for with $8.7 million in state funds authorized by 1999 legislation known as the Medical Research Act. Since 2000, researchers have worked with medical subjects, including both experienced marijuana smokers and others unfamiliar with the drug.

With five of seven clinical trials completed, researchers found that marijuana can provide relief for neuropathic pain caused by injuries, infections, diabetes, strokes and other conditions that affect the nervous system. The studies also found that smoking pot offers at least short-term relief for spasticity by soothing pain and muscle spasms in sufferers of multiple sclerosis. But researchers said more study is needed.

"There is good evidence that cannabinoids (in marijuana) may be an adjunct or a first-line treatment," said Dr. Igor Grant, a UC San Diego professor of psychiatry who has directed the state-funded research. He said he hoped the studies -- the first by any state -- would spur federal funding for additional research.

California researchers obtained marijuana for studies involving about 200 patient subjects from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which grows marijuana for research. The marijuana used in the testing was maintained under intense security. The research also was conducted in consultation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration, Grant said.

The results of the study could have significant policy implications in California, which is dealing with a burgeoning medical marijuana market and regional disputes over governance of pot dispensaries.

Grant said ramifications of the research are unclear for medical marijuana dispensaries, whose cannabis offerings may vary greatly in content and potency.

"We don't know the composition of the product on the street," Grant said. "We don't know what the patients are getting."

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