A large team of researchers affiliated with various academic and health institutions based in Canada and one in Spain recently analyzed observational data involving medical cannabis therapies, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.

The team of investigators assessed the efficacy of cannabis products in a cohort of 139 Canadian patients registered to use medical cannabis. The participants’ symptoms were assessed at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 weeks. The findings from the analysis were published in the Canadian Journal of Pain.

“With the increasing use of medical cannabis (MC), there is growing evidence suggesting that MC may be an effective therapeutic for chronic sleep, pain, and anxiety conditions. However, further evaluation is warranted to evaluate the heterogeneous patient outcomes of authorized cannabis treatment.” the researchers wrote. “To assess the effectiveness of authorized cannabis on pain, sleep duration, anxiety, and depression in patients presenting to clinics over a 6-month time period.”

“Improvements in pain, anxiety, depression, and QoL were observed from Baseline to Week 24. Decreases were observed in PROMIS Pain Interference – 4.6 (CI – 6.02 to – 3.17, n = 137), Numeric Pain Rating Scale – 1.19 (CI – 1.7 to −0.68, n = 137), General Anxiety Disorder-7 – 2.24 (CI – 3.5 to – 0.99, n = 139), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 depression −2.79 (CI – 4.29 to −1.3, n = 141), and EQ-5D-3 L – 0.56 (CI −0.96 to −0.16, n = 139).” they found.

“At Week 24, outcomes in chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and quality of life improved.” they concluded. “Our findings highlight the need for future studies to characterize MC administration, dose, and specific product relationships.”

The findings from this latest analysis regarding medical cannabis use and depression build on the findings from a separate research effort conducted in the United Kingdom, which also found that medical cannabis therapies were associated with sustained relief for patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression.

“Of the 34,563 patients in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry on January 6th 2025, 698 (2.02 %) patients were included in the analysis. Improvements were observed across the PHQ-9. GAD-7, SQS, and EQ-5D-5L index value at all time points compared to baseline (p < 0.001). At baseline, half of the patients reported severe anxiety (GAD-7 ≥ 15: 50.86 %, n = 355), which was correlated with depression severity (PHQ-9; r = 0.67, p < 0.001). Sixty-three patients (9.03 %) reported at least one AE during treatment, of which 87.26 % (n = 411) were mild or moderate.” the researchers, who are affiliated with various academic and health institutions in the UK, recently wrote in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

“Initiation of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) was associated with statistically and clinically significant improvements in depression, anxiety, sleep quality, and health-related quality of life among patients. Improvements were most prominent in the first 3 months.” they found. “The positive findings from this and other observational data support future evaluation of CBMPs for the treatment of depression to establish their efficacy.”