Medical marijuana failing to help against insomnia
Researchers from Argentina and Canada have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support the use of medical marijuana for treating insomnia. The study suggests that potential side effects like dizziness and dry mouth outweigh the unproven benefits.
Why it matters
This finding challenges the growing trend of prescribing cannabis for sleep disorders, highlighting the need for more rigorous clinical evidence.
Researchers in Argentina and Canada have jointly warned that there is not enough proof that marijuana should be used to treat insomnia.
Based at Universidad Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires and University of Manitoba, the team found the "existing evidence” to be "too uncertain” to recommend that marijuana be prescribed to patients with chronic sleep disorders.
In a paper published in the medical journal Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in October, the researchers said they could not confirm that medical cannabis either "improves sleep” or leads to better "daytime functioning.”
"The evidence is too weak and uncertain to draw firm conclusions about the use of medical cannabis for insomnia,” says Luis Garegnani, a doctor at the Buenos Aires hospital.
The team reviewed results of nine tests involving over 500 patients who in most cases were administered cannabis and a placebo, though in one case an antidepressant was given as well.
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