Montreal, Quebec: Nearly one in four epilepsy patients and one in six Multiple Sclerosis patients believe that cannabis is an effective form of treatment for their disease symptoms, and many are using it therapeutically, according to a pair of patient surveys published in the journal Neurology.
Among those epilepsy patients surveyed: “Twenty-one percent of subjects had used marijuana in the past year with the majority of active users reporting beneficial effects on seizures. Twenty-four percent of all subjects believed marijuana was an effective therapy for epilepsy.”
Last year, a study published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics reported that THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, “completely abolished” spontaneous seizures in an animal model of epilepsy.
Of those MS patients surveyed, 14 percent reported that they used cannabis for symptom treatment, specifically pain and stress relief, mood elevation, and relief from stiffness and/or spasms.
A 2002 British survey of Multiple Sclerosis patients found that 43 percent of respondents used marijuana therapeutically. Among current users, nearly three quarters said marijuana alleviated their spasms, and more than half said it relieved their pain.
Most recently, a 2003 survey conducted by the University of Calgary reported, “Subjective improvements in symptom experience were reported by the majority of people with MS who currently use cannabis.”
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Abstracts of the studies are available online at:
http://www.neurology.org