PTSD Patients Get Sustained Improvements Following Cannabis Use

Patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress (PTSD) experience significant long-term benefits following their use of medical cannabis preparations, according to data published in the journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics.

British researchers assessed changes in patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following the use of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs). (British health care providers may prescribe cannabis-based medicinal products to patients unresponsive to conventional medications.) Two hundred and sixty-nine patients with post-traumatic stress enrolled in the United Kingdom’s Medical Cannabis Registry were enrolled in the trial. Participants’ symptoms were assessed at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 18 months.

Consistent with other observational studies, “significant improvements in post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, sleep quality, and HRQoL were observed at all follow-up points.” Symptomatic improvements were sustained for the entire study period (18 months).

Other observational studies assessing the use of cannabis products among patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry have reported them to be effective for those diagnosed with cancer-related pain, anxiety, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, hypermobility disorders, depression, migraine, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, and inflammatory arthritis, among other conditions.