Skip to main content
Canna~Fangled Abstracts

A small clinical trial of vaporized cannabis for PTSD: suggestive results and directions for future study

By September 9, 2023September 10th, 2023No Comments

doi: 10.1186/s13063-023-07543-2.

Affiliations 

Abstract

The last few decades have seen increasing interest in the use of cannabis for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Recent attempts to evaluate the clinical efficacy of cannabis for PTSD were inconclusive and generalizability was limited by undesirable features of the study drug. The present clinical trial evaluated the effects of a commercially available chemovar that was delivered by vaporization. The study was designed as a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over study with three conditions; however, only five individuals completed the trial, and analysis of the placebo effect was not possible. Results identified positive changes consistent with medium-sized within-subject effects for cannabis in the treatment of PTSD. Positive trending results and high patient need mandate future studies of cannabis for the treatment of PTSD.

Keywords: Medical cannabis, PTSD, Plant medicine

References

    1. Walsh Z, Gonzalez R, Crosby K, et al. Medical cannabis and mental health: A guided systematic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017;51:15–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2016.10.002 . – DOI – PubMed
    1. Hill MN, Campolongo P, Yehuda R, Patel S. Integrating Endocannabinoid Signaling and Cannabinoids into the Biology and Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018;43(1):80–102. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2017.162 . – DOI – PubMed
    1. Lake S, Kerr T, Buxton J, et al. Does cannabis use modify the effect of post-traumatic stress disorder on severe depression and suicidal ideation? Evidence from a population-based cross-sectional study of Canadians. J Psychopharmacol. 2020;34(2):181–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881119882806 . – DOI – PubMed
    1. Hutchison K, Bidwell L, Ellingson J, Bryan A. Cannabis and Health Research: Rapid Progress Requires Innovative Research Designs. Value in Health. 2019;22(11):1289–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2019.05.005 . – DOI – PubMed
    1. Bonn-Miller MO, Sisley S, Riggs P, et al. The short-term impact of 3 smoked cannabis preparations versus placebo on PTSD symptoms: A randomized cross-over clinical trial. PLoS ONE. 2021;16(3):e0246990. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246990 . – DOI – PubMed – PMC

Publication types


Leave a Reply