Cannabis products are safe in treating mental health, poor evidence find. The study published Monday in The Lancet Psychiatry analyzed 83 previous studies conducted on medical cannabinoids, such as products from the cannabis plant, such as leaves, buds, and oils.
The authors of the paper found little evidence that the products were safe in improving mental health and treating six common disorders including depression, anxiety, Tourette syndrome, psychosis, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lead author Louisa Degenhardt said that cannabis and cannabinoids are frequently used for medicinal use in North America, Britain and Australia.
The previous study has shown that medicinal cannabinoids are commonly used after chronic non-cancer pain. However, the varying effects of the different types of cannabinoids or their safety have not studied yet.
Several studies have found that cannabinoids improve anxiety symptoms. However, lead author Degenhardt from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney said that there are risks of developing depression and psychotic symptoms in people who use cannabis regularly.
“One of the most striking things about the spread of legislation in multiple countries permitting cannabis/cannabinoids for medicinal purposes is that this is in many instances happening outside of the regulatory frameworks that medicine development typically occurs within,” Degenhardt said.
“Cannabis has been a medicine for millennia… so subjecting it to the same requirements as modern synthetic medicines is not the most obvious nor necessary way to progress,” he added.
Helene Elliott is the senior reporter for News Raise. She covers Science news. She also has a keen interest in photojournalism. Helene holds a nomination for the prestigious Red Smith Award. She is married to author Dennis D’Agostino, a former publicist with the New York Mets.
