Marijuana-based medicines are useless and even dangerous for mental health, study says

Marijuana-based products are actively promoted today as a universal solution to many mental problems. Many are convinced that a herbal drug reduces anxiety, depression, and psychosis. But here is no reliable evidence of this, and these funds can be not only useless, but also dangerous for people with mental disorders, Reuters reported.

According to Louisa Degenhardt, a drug and alcohol expert at Australia’s University of New South Wales in Sydney, the results of this study can be very important for countries like the US, Australia, the UK and Canada, where marijuana-based products are actively used today.

People with post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, brain injuries, hyperactivity syndrome, Tourette syndrome and various mental illnesses resort to medical marijuana.

Specialists analyzed 83 published and unpublished studies covering data from about 3,000 people between 1980 and 2018 and it turned out that the pharmaceutical tetrahydrocannabinol (the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana), with or without cannabidiol, did not significantly affect the outcome of a majority of mental illnesses, but exacerbated the course of psychosis.

However, many of the patients experienced undesirable side effects due to the use of these funds.