Abstract
Cannabis is one of the oldest plants used by humans. In addition to its industrial uses (fibre, food), it is employed for medicinal, religious, and recreational purposes on account of its psychoactive content.
In recent years, the use of cannabis for pain management has been widely discussed and explored. Therefore, after an introductory review of the pharmacognosy and pharmacology of cannabis, the article provides a systematic overview of the use of cannabis as an analgesic agent in the past, from the ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, through specific quotations from the works of Roman authors (Pliny the Elder, Pedanius Dioscorides, Claudius Galenus), mentions the contribution of Arabic medicine, Renaissance herbalists (Hieronymus Brunschwig, Jan Černý-Niger, Pietro Andrea Mattioli), to the renewed interest in cannabis in the 19th century (William O'Shaughnessy, John Reynolds).
The history of elucidation of the structure of cannabinoids and the discovery of cannabinoid receptors is also discussed. The last section reviews the current use of cannabis in analgesia and summarizes the results of published studies on the effects of cannabinoids on pain (neuropathic pain, chronic non-cancer pain, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer-related pain, acute nociceptive pain).
The review shows that cannabis and cannabinoids are effective for the treatment of chronic pain in particular, but the current knowledge in this field is still insufficient and much more research is needed.