Cannabis and Parkinson’s.. what you need to know right now.
______________________________________________
New Study: Cannabis Shows Promise for Parkinson’s
A study published this week has shown that the majority of German Parkinson's patients are interested in medical cannabis for treatment, and that many of the patients already using it were satisfied with the results. This shows promising results around a condition which has not been studied extensively in relation to cannabis. Patients who still shied away from cannabis as a treatment option reported that they felt uneasy trying it due to a fear of side effects, stigma, and a lack of general knowledge about the drug - boundaries that can easily be broken through basic education.
The survey-based study showed that 8.4% of German Parkinson's patients used prescribed medical cannabis for their condition. Furthermore, 68% of these patients reported improved quality of life and “beneficial clinical effects”. More specifically, more than 40% of patients said that it helped manage pain and muscle cramps while over 20% of users reported a reduction of freezing, tremor, depression, anxiety, restless legs, and akinesia (stiffness). Interestingly users reported that inhaled cannabis products worked best for akinesia and its related symptoms, opening up the discussion on the best form of intake for medical cannabis.
The study was mainly concerned with medicines containing a high level of THC (as well as other cannabinoids) which are only typically prescribed if traditional treatment options have failed. Previously CBD based medicines have also shown promise for Parkison’s patients, however, the precise science of the relationship between cannabinoids and parkisons is still lacking. Dr.Carsten Buhmann from the Department of Neurology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, headed the study - he said: "Medical cannabis was legally approved in Germany in 2017 - when approval was given for therapy-resistant symptoms in severely affected patients independent of diagnosis and without clinical evidence-based data".
Essentially, this means cannabis based medicines were embraced as an option in Germany without significant clinical data: "PD patients fulfilling these criteria are entitled to be prescribed medical cannabis, but there is little data about which type of cannabinoid and which route of administration might be promising for which PD patient and which symptoms. We also lack information about the extent to which the PD community is informed about medicinal cannabis and whether they have tried cannabis and, if so, with what result." Dr Buhmann also believes that placebo could play a major role due to “high patient expectations and conditioning, but even that can be considered as a therapeutic effect. It has to be stressed, that our findings are based on subjective patient reports". The limitations of patient reports are clear, however these surveys can provide a more wholesome analysis of patients’ day to day experiences.
Bastiaan R. Bloem (MD/PhD), an expert on Parkinson’s and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, said the data is promising but echoed the need that further research is an absolute necessity moving forward: “the present paper mainly serves to emphasize the need for carefully controlled clinical trials to further establish both the efficacy and safety of cannabis treatment [for Parkinson’s]”.