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Cannabis industry’s claims more smoke than science
A major US study not only questions the supposed medical benefits, but also warns of the dangers users face.
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Cannabis plants at a California farm. In the last few years, cannabis products generally have become more potent and more addictive.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Jan Hoffman
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To treat their pain, anxiety and sleep problems, millions of Americans turn to cannabis, which is now legal in 40 states for medical use. But a new review of 15 years of research concludes that the evidence of its benefits is often weak or inconclusive, and that nearly 30 per cent of medical cannabis patients meet criteria for cannabis use disorder.
“The evidence does not support the use of cannabis or cannabinoids at this point for most of the indications that folks are using it for,” said Dr Michael Hsu, an addiction psychiatrist and clinical instructor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the lead author of the review, which was published in November in the medical journal JAMA. Cannabis refers to the entire plant; cannabinoids are its many compounds.
