Cannabis treatment improves quality of life and helps with pain

The large-scale prospective study was conducted by an international team of renowned scientists from the United States and Israel (one of the authors is Raphael Mechoulam, the father of cannabis science). Approximately 10 000 patients who are officially treated with cannabis took part in the research.

The aim was to investigate which groups of people are treated with cannabis and whether this therapy is safe and effective. The researchers followed cannabis patients for six months to see what side effects were experienced, how strong they were and how the patients handled them. In terms of effectiveness, at least a moderate improvement in the patient’s condition without having to discontinue cannabis use due to more serious side effects was considered the basic measure of the ‘success’ of the treatment.

The representation of patient groups treated with cannabis was as follows: “The majority of patients suffered from cancer (49.1%) and unspecified pain (29.3%). The average age of patients was 55 years, both genders were equally represented (with a slight predominance of men) and about one third reported having previous experience with cannabis.”

After six months of observation, the authors found that less than 20% of patients had died and another 17% had stopped treatment prematurely. Side symptoms were observed in a total of 34% of the subjects, although these were not severe (dizziness, increased appetite, drowsiness and psychotropic effects). Overall, treatment was judged by the study authors to be successful in more than 70% of patients after 6 months. This was influenced by factors such as cigarette smoking, previous experience with cannabis, whether the patient were actively driving or working, and their age.

The authors conclude the research by saying: “We found that medically supervised cannabis treatment is associated with improved quality of life, pain relief and the absence of serious side effects.”

Link to the full study result

Translated from the source: magazin-legalizace.cz