Migraine Cure: Marijuana Gives Miracle Relief

Phil Leveque was an Army Infantryman, Doctor of Pharmacology, Forensic Toxicologist and Osteopathic Physician.

(PORTLAND, OR) - I guess I was a bit excited when I wrote this and my first article on the subject “Marijuana VS Migraines: Modern Medical Miracle” in Salem-News.com June 30th 2008. Then I was excited about it because the best treatment I had used was Demerol and Benadry injections which knocked the patient out for at least a whole day. This is much better.

Recently in Salem-News.com, a story appeared by Dr. Dianne Stafford, October 3rd 2012 entitled, “Not Just A Headache: Eleven Ways Not To Treat A Migraine”. I hoped that it would be some good stuff but it was a fizzling blah. She didn’t mention one treatment which was a good idea because there are some 20 different pharmaceuticals most of which don’t work for most people. For a migraine sufferer her list is worthless.

I don’t consider myself any great stuff about migraine therapy but I had a real opportunity in this regard when Oregon legalized marijuana for about 10 diseases including severe pain, spasms ( of smooth muscle such as blood vessels in the brain), and nausea and vomiting. Cannabis/marijuana works well for all of these. I must have ended up with about 50 migraine patients who had previously been prescribed or given dozens of poorly working drugs.

At the time no other physician/pharmacologist had published that cannabis/marijuana was effective for migraines, so I published my article. I received 32 responses on 8 pages from July 1st, 2008 till September 1st, 2011. Some are quite short but others are long extolling the effectiveness of cannabis/marijuana therapy. You can read my article and comments. I will reprint a few of the shorter ones:

Anonymous September 1, 2011: I have recently started having migraine headaches and I have to say it is painful. I recently started smoking marijuana in order to cope with the pain and it helps. Luckily for me I live in Denver where marijuana is legal and I go to this one dispensary closest to my home and get some Kush and it usually takes my pain right away. The bad part is that I am risking being fired from my job because of it.

509meds December 14, 2010: Marijuana cures all pain period. I’m a patient for migraines and I legally grow some strong weed for pain here in Washington state and it works great marijuana is truly Gods gift to us all so f@#k all those ignorant dinosaurs who compare marijuana to meth and heroin, weed is not the problem it’s the solution so spread the love and support the marijuana movement.

Ashton September 1, 2010: I’ve suffered from migraines my whole life. I’ve seen numerous doctors and tried countless medicines. I eventually found one that reduces the amount of migraines I get but nothing helps the onset leaving me useless. All I can do is go to sleep. I’ve smoked for about three years but didn’t realize this was the answer till about a year ago. It was life changing and now every time I had weed and a migraine I smoke of course. I just needs to be legal, it will boost our economy and empty our jail cells!

Kris. k July 13, 2010: I’m 15 I play sports and get involved in school I suffer from migraines for about 9 years I get them a lot like at least 2 a week mostly I've been getting them 3 or 4 times a week to the point were im sick and cant do nothing but my parents don’t want me to do marijuana ive taken all sorts of pills to help they don’t work ive even been given vicoden it doesn’t work though what do I do.

Dawnie November 8, 2009: I’ve dealt with migraines since I was 17, ive tried a lot of meds and nothing seemed to help much. About 4 years ago I took a few puffs of marijuana and wasn’t sure if I liked the feeling but realized it helped my head. I use it now to prevent migraines and it really works. I also use it after I get a migraine and it slows down enough for me to cope. I am 42 years old and it took this long to find something that really works.

Alexa July 16, 2009: I had just graduated from high school only a few months ago. Although marijuana is not legal many kids smoke it regardless. Throughout high school I had smoked a lot of pot. I had started getting migraines when I was 15. Because they were very infrequent it wasn’t a huge problem. Now I have been getting them 5-7 times a month. I had been visiting the doctor many times within these months and nothing seemed to work. I thought I’d experiment with pot and my migraines. I wanted to see if this drug would help my migraines. It helped significantly. Although it didn’t completely get rid of my migraine, it certainly helped my pain level.

More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole".
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier

Watch for more streaming video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King and Dr. Phil Leveque.

Click on this link for other articles and video segments about PTSD and medical marijuana on Salem-News.com:
Dr. Leveque INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES

Salem-News.com Marijuana Coverage

Where and How to Smoke Legal Marijuana without Fear of Arrest in the U.S.

Eulogy of a Great Warrior: Hoss Plourde

The Ripple Effect How Marijuana Laws Are Impacting Society

Audit the Audit

Welcome Home, Tom

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Flo April 17, 2015 1:50 am (Pacific time)

I have chronic migraine and it heavily depends on the strain if it helps against the pain or not. The strains with high THC and low CBD, which cause a strong high don't help at all and I have to be careful not to take much of it cause when I do, the high THC dose makes my blood pressure rise too quickly which can cause other headaches. But the strains with much CBD, or if the cannabis was harvested very late and is stinky and moist and causes a "stoney" high - these help a lot! I use triptane, which many patients should know already and it often kills the pain 100%, if used at the right time. The problem is that my attacks are too frequently to use it every time and that it's not easy to find the ideal moment to take it so it can work properly. In comparison, a strain with high CBD works approx. 80-90% as well on the pain as triptane ideally can, for a shorter time per dose of course. But it works every time, so it's safe to use and it works very quickly while a triptane takes at least half an hour. There are other positive effects of the cannabinoids to it as well like relaxation, anti-nausea... So when I have 20 attacks per month and can use triptane on 4 of these, it's a very good addition. I had pretty good results with some CBD oil as well, but it depends on the manufacturer. So other cannabinoids might play a role as well or maybe safety of manufacturing.

Migraineur July 8, 2013 7:40 am (Pacific time)

it does not relieve my pain! I wish it did, I tried it. It may help others with nausea but it did nothing for my pain!

FlyingTooLow October 12, 2012 5:47 am (Pacific time)

Several years ago, I had surgery on my right shoulder. Pain medication was prescribed..."take one capsule every 4 hours." I took one capsule. I was down for over 20 hours. When I came to, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. The next time I felt discomfort, I smoked a small amount of marijuana ...pain gone, no after effects. I threw the pills out. Then I wrote: Shoulda Robbed a Bank My contribution to helping point out just how ludicrous our pot laws truly are.

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Migraine Cure: Marijuana Gives Miracle Relief

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