Medicinal cannabis produced ‘amazing’ improvement in anxiety

A trial led by former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry has found medicinal cannabis can halve the symptoms of a chronic condition.

Medicinal cannabis has been found to halve the symptoms of chronic anxiety in young people as companies race to get a product available for sale without a prescription from 2023.

Current treatments for anxiety – psychological therapy and antidepressant drugs – only work in some people who try them so clinicians are looking for other treatments.

Youth mental health service Orygen conducted a small trial in 31 people aged 12–25 who had treatment resistant anxiety.

After 12 weeks of treatment, the non-addictive version of medicinal cannabis, called cannabidiol (CBD), delivered an average 42.6 per cent reduction in anxiety severity, the results of the trial published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry on Thursday show.

“The young people had fewer panic attacks and could do things which they were previously unable to do like leave the house, go to school, participate in social situations, eat at restaurants, take public transport or attend appointments by themselves,” study leader Professor Paul Amminger said.

“That’s an amazing change in the group which has had treatment-resistant, longstanding severe to very severe anxiety.”

While the effect in the treatment-resistant group was encouraging, the next step is a randomised controlled trial in more than 200 people which is the gold standard to test a new treatment, Professor Amminger said.

Anxiety is the fastest growing form of mental ill-health in young people with nearly a third of young people affected.

Study co-investigator and Orygen executive director, Professor Patrick McGorry said that figure was double the rate of the general population.

Professor Patrick McGorry says medicinal cannabis is a promising treatment for anxiety. Picture: AAP

“Cannabidiol is a promising treatment option which appears safe and effective. We need further research to confirm this and explore its value,” Professor McGorry said.

The most common side-effects observed in the trial were mild sedation and mild fatigue.

“We did not see side-effects like suicidal thoughts, irritability or sleep problems, which are not uncommon in people taking SSRIs (anti depressants),” Professor Amminger said.

Those taking part in the trial received twice weekly psychological therapy and were started on one 200mg capsule of CBD per day, which was increased to 400mg after one week.

Those who did not show significant improvement in anxiety symptoms had their dosage increased at 200mg increments, up to 800mg per day.

CBD is the non-intoxicating component of the Cannabis plant that doesn’t make you ‘high’ and it’s not addictive.

Medicinal cannabis has been approved for over the counter sales but there are currently no products available. Picture: Supplied

In Australia, Cannabidiol has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration as a prescription treatment for children with rare forms of epilepsy (Dravet syndrome and Lennox Gastaut syndrome).

It has also has been approved for clinical trials as a treatment for children in Australia with Tourette syndrome, fragile X syndrome, autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability.

In December 2020 the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved low-dose CBD-containing products, up to a maximum of 150 mg/day, for use in adults, to be supplied over-the-counter by a pharmacist, without a prescription.

To date not a single CBD company has a product approved for sale over the counter although at least two have clinical trials underway and hope to present evidence to the TGA next year.

Originally published as Medicinal cannabis produced ‘amazing’ improvement in anxiety