The case for medicinal cannabis

Excerpt

Sources from Ireland, America, Serbia, and worldwide agree that cannabis is the most popular and most commonly used illicit substance worldwide [1‐3]. Internationally, there has been a gradual shift from prohibition to medicinal uses [4]. There have been many cases described in the literature of patients suffering from chronic conditions such as cancer, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, epilepsy, migraine, autoimmune disease, and psychiatric disorders self-medicating with cannabis for its therapeutic effects [5‐7]. In addition, a systematic review and meta-analysis of 79 trials involving 6462 patients concluded that there was moderate quality evidence supporting the medicinal use of certain cannabinoids [8]. There was also low-quality evidence supporting the use of cannabinoids for nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, sleep disorders, and Tourette’s syndrome [8]. More recently, cannabidiol has been shown to reduce seizure frequency in Dravet syndrome [9]. Cannabis contains several active substances. One which leads to addiction and is regarded as most toxic is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) [10]. However, other compounds in cannabis, such as cannabidiol, appear to have therapeutic effect but with little of the addictive psychotropic effects. …