The Effect of Cannabis on Symptoms and Conditions of Different D

2009.05.05

In 1998, the Institute for Medicine (IOM) published a summary of the essential elements of these articles, and this continues to be the most comprehensive report published on the subject to date. The report contains a critical analysis of the literature dealing with the effects of cannabis on the following symptoms and conditions:

Chronic pain

Trials on both animals and humans have shown that cannabinoids have a significant pain-killing effect, but there are no studies to show that they can replace conventional medicines.

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

Compared with conventional treatments for these symptoms, the effect of cannabinoids can only be classed as moderate.

Malnutrition, loss of weight and appetite

Conventional medicines are more effective than cannabis for individual patients. Further development work and the clinical testing of fast-acting substances are recommended for such patients.

Spastic symptoms of multiple sclerosis sufferers

Existing clinical data are insufficient to allow statements as to whether cannabinoids are capable of relieving spastic paralysis (muscle cramping) for MS sufferers. Cannabis can alleviate spastic symptoms no more efficiently than a placebo.

Epilepsy

Current clinical knowledge is too incomplete to allow the recommending of cannabinoids for the treatment of epilepsy.

Glaucoma

The effectiveness of marijuana in the treatment of increased pressure on the interior of the eye, which leads to glaucoma, has only been demonstrated with very high doses. These high doses then result in the familiar side-effects of inhaling large amounts of smoke, leading to even greater problems elsewhere.

The data submitted to the commission of experts revealed moderate therapeutic potential for cannabinoids in the treatment of pain, control of nausea and vomiting, and also of loss of appetite.

But a range of good medicines, some of them excellent, already exists for the treatment of all the above symptoms and conditions. The commission recommended the conducting of clinical studies, ideally on animals to begin with, in order to obtain better data regarding the effect of cannabinoids on these conditions. The recommendation also included the carrying-out of randomized, double-blind studies, with a placebo control group, to determine the properties of individual cannabinoids.