Baltimore, MD: Patients who consume CBD-dominant varieties of cannabis or cannabis products experience decreased levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms than do similarly matched controls, according to data published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Investigators affiliated with John Hopkins University in Baltimore and the University of South Carolina in Charleston assessed longitudinal trends in self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms in a cohort of cannabis consumers and non-consumers. The majority of subjects in the study who were aware of the cannabinoid composition of their products said that they primarily consumed CBD-dominant cannabis.
Researchers reported: “Initiation of medicinal cannabis during the follow-up period [of the study] was associated with significantly decreased anxiety and depressive symptoms, an effect that was not observed in controls that never initiated cannabis use. … Adverse effects attributed by participants to cannabis product use were infrequent, were more associated with THC-dominant product use. … It is recommended that this antidepressant effect of CBD be evaluated further in placebo-controlled clinical trials.”
The full text of the study, “Antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of medicinal cannabis use in an observational trial,” appears in Frontiers in Psychiatry.
