Efficacy of Inhaled Cannabis in Diabetic Painful Peripheral Neuropathy

Neuropathic pain is caused by an insult to the nervous system and accounts for 25-50% of all
pain clinic visits. Excluding low back pain, diabetic peripheral neuropathy is the most
common neuropathic pain syndrome with an estimated prevalence of 600,000 cases in the United
States. There are only 5 medications approved by the FDA for the treatment of neuropathic
pain with only 2 out of the 5 approved for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
Currently, there is a desperate need for more therapeutic agents for the treatment of
neuropathic pain. We propose to use painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) patients to
study the efficacy of inhaled cannabis on neuropathic pain. We will enroll 20 subjects with
each subject acting as their own control; receiving both placebo and three doses of inhaled
aerosolized cannabis (low, medium, and high) in random order each separated by at least two
weeks. Subjects will be assessed for reduction in pain, changes in normal sensation, changes
in cognition, and effects of cannabis on experimentally induced pain.