This randomized and placebo-controlled study which was published in 2007 set out to determine of smoking marijuana could help HIV patients with their neuropathic pain. The 50 patients who completed the study by and large found that it was an effective way to provide pain relief. Far more of the participants who smoked marijuana reported a decrease in pain than did those who smoked a placebo. The researchers noted that that marijuana measured up to the same efficacy as did oral drugs which are often used for the same purpose, and that it did so safely and with no ill effects.
