It's Official: Study Finds Mary Jane Eases Pain

Yeah, we know. You stoners have already done the research and, yeah, Mary Jane, she take away all the pain man. But new research gives renewed scientific validity to the use of cannabis to treat pain.

A Canadian study found that patients who were given high-potency pot reported less pain than those who were given weaker samples or placebos that contained no THC, according to HealthDay (via Business Week). New fodder for medical-marijuana dispensary and Prop. 19 supporters?

The research, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that marijuana "reduced pain in patients with nerve pain stemming from injuries or surgical complications," according to HealthDay.

Researchers tested 21 people with chronic nerve pain. Those with the potent stuff reported that the weed cut their pain in half and then some.

"Patients have repeatedly made claims that smoked cannabis helps to treat pain, but the issue for me had always been the lack of clinical research to support that claim," said Dr. Mark Ware, director of clinical research at the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal. The study proved that "the pain reductions were modest, but significant."

Irie.