Lack of efficacy of cannabidiol for relieving back pain: time to re‐set expectations?

In the absence of evidence of benefit for acute low back pain, its over‐the‐counter availability should be reconsidered

Decades of opioid overuse can teach us valuable lessons about how we should handle medicinal cannabinoids, including cannabidiol (CBD). One major lesson is that access to medicines should not move ahead of scientific evidence. Over time, evidence that context is critical has accumulated: using opioids to treat acute pain and cancer pain, in the management of opioid dependency, and in palliative care can be justified. However, the indication creep from acute to chronic non‐cancer pain was unwarranted. Consequently, clinicians are sensitive to new pain medicines being made available without evidence of benefit, and the motivations for accelerated access have been questioned.1