Key Takeaways
CBD hasn’t been shown to help relieve chronic pain
Clinical trials have shown no effect from CBD on pain, an evidence review concluded
THC products have some slight effect, but they come with side effects
MONDAY, Dec. 29, 2025 (HealthDay News) — CBD and other cannabis derivatives are a bust when it comes to pain relief, a new evidence review has concluded.
Products containing mainly or only cannabidiol (CBD) demonstrated almost no ability to manage a person’s pain, according to a review of recent clinical trials.
“This may be surprising to people,” said lead researcher Dr. Roger Chou, senior adviser for the Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
“Conventional wisdom was that CBD was promising because it doesn’t have euphoric effects like THC and it was thought to have medicinal properties,” Chou said in a news relase. “But, at least in our analysis, it didn’t have an effect on pain.”
Weed products carrying relatively high levels of THC — the compound that causes intoxication — showed some potential to provide short-term improvements in pain and function, the review found.
But they also come with an increased risk of side effects like dizziness, sleepiness and nausea, researchers concluded in their Dec. 23 paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Both THC and CBD act on a system of neurotransmitters within the body that play a role in modulating a person’s pain.
Because of that, many people have turned to cannabis to treat conditions like pain, anxiety and sleep, researchers said in background notes.
Weed is legal for medical use in 40 states and the District of Columbia and for recreational use in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
On Dec. 18, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for marijuana to be reclassified from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, on par with substances like ketamine, testosterone and anabolic steroids.
For the new evidence review, researchers analyzed data from 25 clinical trials testing cannabis products’ ability to treat chronic pain.
Researchers looked at the trials based on the THC-to-CBD ratio of the products being tested.
Results showed some evidence of pain relief for two U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved products, dronabinol and nabilone, which are made of 100% THC. Those drugs are approved for treatment of nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy.
However, the pain relief was relatively small. Compared to placebo, it was on the order of a half-point to a point on a 10-point scale, researchers noted.
Those slight benefits were accompanied by moderate-to-large increases in dizziness, sedation and nausea, the trial results showed.
“It’s complicated because cannabis products are complicated,” Chou said.
“It’s not like taking a standardized dose of ibuprofen, for example," he said. "Cannabis is derived from a plant and has multiple chemicals in addition to THC and CBD that may have additional properties depending on where it’s grown, how it’s cultivated and ultimately prepared for sale.”
Researchers noted that the medical profession is divided on the potential medical benefits of cannabis.
The American College of Physicians recently declined to recommend smoking weed to treat chronic pain, but previously experts have issued a soft recommendation for people with chronic pain when standard treatments fail.
The results regarding CBD are particularly discouraging, researchers said.
“CBD-based products are widely available in dispensaries. Many people use these products and they think it helps,” Chou said. “Our goal is to provide some scientific basis to help people make their decisions.”
More information
The Cleveland Clinic has more on medical marijuana.
SOURCE: Oregon Health & Science University, news release, Dec. 22, 2025
What This Means For You
CBD products have not been shown to help relieve pain, according to clinical trial results.
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