WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new review published in the medical journal Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews has found that there is not enough evidence to confirm whether medical cannabis can effectively treat insomnia.
The review was led by scientists from the Cochrane Associate Center at Universidad Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires in Argentina and the University of Manitoba in Canada.
The team analyzed nine clinical trials involving more than 500 patients, many of whom were treated for primary insomnia. In most trials, participants received either medical cannabis or a placebo, a treatment with no active drug. One study compared medical cannabis with the antidepressant amitriptyline.
At the end of the review, the researchers could not confirm that medical cannabis improves sleep or helps people function better during the day.
The review also found that side effects were more common among people who used medical cannabis. However, these effects were generally mild and included dry mouth and dizziness.
'I would not interpret these findings as proof that medical cannabis does not work. Rather, they show that the available research is too limited and uncertain to give patients and clinicians a clear answer,' lead author Lucia Varela told Gizmodo.
Researchers noted that there was also limited evidence about the overall safety of medical cannabis for treating insomnia.
'More than simply more studies, we need larger and more consistent ones. Most trials so far have been small and short, which makes it hard to draw firm conclusions,' Varela said.
'It would help if future trials used well-defined products and doses, measured sleep in comparable ways, and reported their methods clearly. That way, results can be compared, combined, and applied more easily in practice. Another valuable direction would be comparing medical cannabis with treatments already commonly used for insomnia to understand how it fits among existing options.'
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