The federal government has yet to recognize marijuana as anything but an outlaw street drug. But we told you about a recent study in which MRI analysis indicated that cannabis could work on pain.

That's big news in L.A., the medical marijuana capital of the nation. Yet another fresh batch of research seconds that emotion, too.

A UC Davis look at the effects of vaporized weed and found it also worked on pain:

The reduction, in fact, was measurable — patients experienced 30 percent less of it, according to the research being published in the Journal of Pain.

That makes it sound like legit medicine to us, frankly, even if the non-scientist gun-toters at the DEA still disagree.

The UC Davis academics looked at 39 people with “neuropathic pain” and compared low-dose, vaporized THC to a placebo.

A summary of the work concludes:

Vaporized cannabis, even at low doses, may present an effective option for patients with treatment-resistant neuropathic pain.

Yep. Don't all claim you have a headache now.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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