PTSD, Migraines, Depression or General Anxiety Disorder

In January of this year, petitions were accepted by the Arizona Department of Health Services to add new medical conditions to the list of conditions that qualify folks for an AZ Medical Marijuana Registration Card. The petitions this year included PTSD 1, PTSD 2, Depression, Migraines, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and a few others.

To help them decide if these conditions should be added to the list of qualifying conditions, the State had the University of Arizona review all of the published scientific studies related to marijuana use and the petitioned conditions. What did they come up with? According to the U of A: “The most relevant literature generally was of low or very low quality and no conclusions can be drawn about the benefits or harms of marijuana use for the treatment of PTSD.” They drew similar conclusions for Migraines, General Anxiety Disorder and Depression. You can read the studies for yourself below.

So in reality, they didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already: There has not been enough clinical research done to make a case for or against marijuana.

Will the newly petitioned conditions make it into law? It’s too early to tell. We hope that the State does not rely on the lack of clinical studies to make their decision. In addition to the petitions, the State also received many informal accounts from people across Arizona with these conditions that have had positive results treating their symptoms using marijuana. The ultimate decision to add the new conditions to the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act rests with Will Humble, the Director of the ADHS, who must decide by late July.

University of Arizona reviews of clinical studies: PTSD, Depression, Migraines, Generalized Anxiety Disorder