New Findings Reveal Limitations in Medical Marijuana

As the ongoing debate over the legalization of medical marijuana continues across the states, new research shows the drug may not be quite as effective at treating some of the conditions for which advocates have pushed.

A new study was conducted by an international team of physicians and scientists, who tested marijuana's effectiveness on a range of medical conditions. Their report appears in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Not only did the scientists want to test the drug's effectiveness, they also wanted to gauge the level of adverse events (AEs) that result from its use.

They conducted a total of 79 trials, which included 6,462 participants. The conditions assessed in the trial included nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, appetite stimulation in HIV/AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity due to multiple sclerosis or paraplegia, depression, anxiety disorder, sleep disorder, psychosis, glaucoma, or Tourette syndrome.

The study also took into account patient-relevant/disease-specific outcomes, activities of daily living, quality of life, global impression of change, along with adverse effects.

Their results showed moderate effectiveness for marijuana use for the treatment of chronic pain and spasticity, which is usually touted as two of the primary applications for the drug by advocates. But their research indicated low-quality evidence for the drug's effectiveness in treating nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, weight gain in HIV infection, sleep disorders, and Tourette syndrome.

Their research also found that the cannabinoids they tested were associated with an increased risk of short-term AEs, which included dizziness, dry mouth, nausea, fatigue, somnolence, euphoria, vomiting, disorientation, drowsiness, confusion, loss of balance, and hallucination.

These findings will no doubt be taken up in the fight for and against the use of medical marijuana, as states grapple with issues surrounding the drug's legalization.