Cannabis Use Associated With Self-Reported Reductions In Anxiety Per Canadian Study
It is estimated that roughly 4% of the world’s population suffers from some level of anxiety, although, researchers do not know the actual number. The condition often goes undiagnosed for various reasons in certain parts of the globe, so it’s quite possible that the actual rate is much higher.
Anxiety involves intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Physical symptoms can include a fast heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, and fatigue.
Many of the pharmaceutical medications that are currently commonly prescribed to patients for anxiety involve a long list of possible side effects. Some cases of anxiety are so bad that pharmaceutical treatments don’t even work. Fortunately, CBD may be able to help in those cases. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:
Edmonton, Canada: Subjects report significant decreases in their anxiety levels following the inhalation of herbal cannabis, according to data published in the Journal of Cannabis Research.
Canadian researchers assessed the effects of cannabis inhalation on feelings of anxiety in 184 subjects over a four-year period. Study participants self-administered cannabis at home and reported symptom changes in real time on a mobile software application. Subjects consumed varieties of cannabis that were both THC and CBD-dominant.
Investigators reported: “Cannabis consumption resulted in a significant decrease in anxiety scores among both males and females (average efficacy of 50 percent) and efficacy was similar across the three cultivars.”
Authors reported greater efficacy among younger (under 40) subjects. Investigators also reported that female subjects typically required lesser doses to achieve similar anxiolytic effects. Study participants reported minimal side effects from cannabis.
The study’s investigators concluded: “Overall, cannabis was effective in relieving anxiety and well-tolerated at the doses consumed, independent of CBD and THC ratios. While one cultivar was not significantly more effective than the others, we did identify some gender and age differences in optimal dosing across the three cultivars. We suggest that the outlined THC:CBD ratios and optimal inhalations may be used as a starting point for patients and healthcare practitioners looking to use cannabis as an anxiolytic in order to mitigate the trial-and-error aspect of initiating medical cannabis treatments. Additionally, we recommend the above dataset be used as the foundation for future clinical trials to fully elucidate the efficacy of cannabis for the management of anxiety under more controlled conditions.”
The results of a 2021 US study using similar methods also reported that cannabis inhalation was nearly always associated with self-reported decreases in distress-related symptoms. Data published in June from the United Kingdom similarly reports that the use of cannabis products is associated with sustained improvements in patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.
Full text of the study, “Naturalistic examination of the anxiolytic effects of medical cannabis and associated gender and age differences in a Canadian cohort,” appears in the Journal of Cannabis Research.
