TREATMENT
Review: short-term medical use of cannabis increases risk of non-serious adverse effects
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
M A Ware
Dr M A Ware, Montreal General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; mark.ware@mail.mcgill.ca
Is medical use of cannabis associated with an increased risk of adverse effects?
Studies selected reported adverse events associated with medical use of cannabis for pain or chemotherapy-induced nausea in patients with chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, neuropathic pain, or cancer. Outcomes were serious and non-serious adverse events.
Ovid Medline, PsycINFO, and EMBASE/Excerpta Medica (to Oct 2007), and reference lists were searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs), observational studies, and case reports. 23 RCTs (n = 2087) and 8 observational studies met the selection criteria. An oral cannabinoid product was used in 15 RCTs, and an oromucosal cannabinoid spray was used in 8 RCTs. Median duration of use was 2 weeks (range 8 h to 12 mo). No trial on medical use of cannabis by smoking reported adverse events.
Meta-analysis of 23 RCTs showed that
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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