Medical Cannabis for Chronic Back Pain – The Science and Facts Explained

Some 26 per cent of UK adults report dealing with chronic pain. 13% say it has a daily impact on their life. A significant portion of those people list their lower back as the source of their pain. Around 80% of people experience at least one period of sustained back pain throughout their lives, and it causes 120 million lost working days in the UK each year. In terms of chronic pain, defined as 12 weeks or longer, the causes are not often well understood, and treatment often involves long-term use of pharmaceutical painkillers. But, increasingly, there is another option.

Medical cannabis has been legal on prescription in the UK since 2018, and it is increasingly understood to be an effective long-term painkiller. Chronic pain is currently the number one reason for medical cannabis prescriptions, among some 80,000 patients in the UK as of 2025. Yet, some barriers to treatment remain. In one 2025 survey of Brits, 58% people from the North East of England said they had never considered medical cannabis for pain treatment. This article aims to show why science suggests some of them may want to reconsider.

The Current Situation and Why Medical Cannabis Can Help

Despite it being legally allowed to, the NHS medicines regulator, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), has not licensed medical cannabis for chronic pain. But the law allows it to be prescribed by private clinics.

Medical cannabis research of recent years has shown that it is a promising line of treatment to not only help with managing chronic pain, but also to aid cutting down or even ceasing opioid treatment.

Medical cannabis is not among the frontline lower back pain treatments on the NHS. However, patients who have tried other methods such as pharmaceuticals and physical therapy, which proved unsatisfactory, may register with a licensed healthcare clinic that can prescribe it. Clinical professionals will handle the entire process, from initial assessment and qualification to treatment plans, prescription delivery and follow-up care.

The NHS has made efforts to reduce the number of high-strength painkillers it prescribes. But best estimates suggest it still spends hundreds of millions of pounds a year prescribing pharmaceutical relief for people with chronic pain.

Medical cannabis research of recent years has shown that it is a promising line of treatment to not only help with managing chronic pain, but also to aid in cutting down or even ceasing opioid treatment. Some estimates have suggested the NHS could save billions of pounds if medical cannabis access were expanded, helping the healthcare provider with an already stated goal.

What the Science Says – Pharmacology and Clinical Trials

NICE has only allowed the NHS to prescribe medical cannabis in the form of two medications – Sativex and Epidyolex. Both of which have been prescribed a handful of times to children with severe epilepsy. The regulator says that there is insufficient evidence for it to prescribe for most other reasons, and it often points to a relative lack of clinical, randomised controlled trials.

While the latter point certainly has been true, this approach ignores a building pile of patient-reported data from the real world that is very positive about medical cannabis and chronic pain.

In one 2025 survey of more than 1600 patients at one UK private clinic, 97% of them said medical cannabis treatment improved their quality of life.

There aren’t very many, but there are also some peer-reviewed, high-standard clinical studies that support cannabis’ efficacy for treating chronic pain and even specifically lower back pain.

…research increasingly shows topically applied CBD can be useful in sports and injury recovery as an anti-inflammatory.

A 2022 meta study by researchers at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle, USA, looked at 1738 other studies of medical cannabis for lower back pain treatment. It found only 22 were of enough scientific rigour to draw clear conclusions, but out of those 22, every one showed quantifiable positive effects.

Another peer-reviewed study in the journal Nature used a randomised trial (with a placebo control group) of more than 1000 lower back patients over 12 months. It found meaningful pain reduction, improved quality of sleep and physical function that beat the placebo, across the majority of cases.

CBD is also an Option in a Growing Market

Currently, less than 0.2% of the UK population is prescribed medical cannabis. But far more people suffer from chronic back pain than that, often keeping them out of employment or community engagement. The evidence is there for medical cannabis’ efficacy in treating chronic pain, with more research published daily. In one recent survey of 250 NHS doctors, more than 80% said they would consider prescribing medical cannabis if allowed.

If awareness can be improved and NHS regulations loosened, hundreds of thousands of people could find relief from long-term back pain and return to work, while saving the NHS a lot of money.

For people with lower back pain who find prescribed medical cannabis or THC oils daunting, totally high-street legal cannabinoid CBD could also be an option. Not all back pain is inflammatory, although it can be, but the research increasingly shows that topically applied CBD can be useful in sports and injury recovery as an anti-inflammatory. More research is needed, but CBD is a growing market that shows no signs of slowing.

Even though it is legal to buy anywhere, finding CBD also has its challenges. Branding and marketing can play a role in what’s on shelves or on social feeds, and lower-quality products can appear as good as the real thing. Therefore, online resources like supreme cbd reviews are important for prospective patients, as places to find the top-rated options among experts and other people with CBD experience.