The first in-depth study of Australia’s medicinal cannabis program, which began in 2016, shows the drug is being increasingly prescribed for various conditions. Since the beginning of the program, medicinal cannabis has been prescribed for over 140 conditions.
The study, led by the University of Sydney’s Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics, found anxiety was among the top three reasons for a medicinal cannabis prescription. This is despite a limited number of high-quality clinical trials investigating the drug’s efficacy for this condition.
The findings were published today in Frontiers in Pharmacology.
Flower-based cannabis products containing THC (the ingredient that makes you ‘high’) were being prescribed for anxiety, particularly to males aged 31 or younger.
However senior author Dr Elizabeth Cairns said the current evidence base for medicinal cannabis for anxiety is limited to only a few studies investigating CBD-dominant products, rather than THC-containing products
“Historically, the effects of THC have been described as anxiety-inducing, although this may depend on dose size and other factors.”
Using data from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) – Australia's Special Access Scheme B, the researchers found the other two top reasons for prescriptions were pain and sleep disorders.
The evidence of effectiveness for medicinal cannabis in the treatment of pain is controversial, at least in Australia, where the Australian Faculty of Pain Medicine suggests not to prescribe medicinal cannabis for this purpose. Very few studies have also been done examining cannabis for the treatment of sleep disorders.
