Cannabis Helps - Schizophrenia

Cannabis' impact on patients suffering from schizophrenia is not well understood and often disputed. The Australian National Task Force on Cannabis cites anecdotal clinical evidence that "schizophrenic patients who use cannabis and other drugs experience exacerbations of symptoms, and have a worse clinical course, with more frequent psychotic episodes than those who do not." (1) However, the researchers admit that "very few well controlled studies" have documented this relationship. (2)

In his book Marihuana The Forbidden Medicine, Dr. Lester Grinspoon (with James Bakalar) cites a pair of studies that found schizophrenic patients who used cannabis responded better to the disease than nonusers. One study reported that patients who smoked marijuana had "fewer delusions and, above all, fewer of the so-called negative symptoms, which include apathy, limited speech, and emotional unresponsiveness." (3) The other study concluded that those who used cannabis had a "lower rate of hospital admissions than those who used no drugs at all. [Respondents] said that cannabis helped them with anxiety, depression, and insomnia." (4) Grinspoon also notes that in his own clinical experience, schizophrenics who regularly use cannabis generally regard it as helpful. (5)

Emerging research on the endocannabinoid anandamide (a cannabis-like compound produced naturally by the brain) is allowing scientists to better understand the relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia. University of California at Irvine scientists found that anandamide acts as kind of a brake on neural activity in the brains of rats, and might be used to treat the side effects of diseases that cause uncontrollable movements. (6) Researchers reported that anandamide interferes with the effects of nerve cells that transmit dopamine, the message-carrying chemical responsible for stimulating movement and other motor behavior in the brain. Some scientists believe that uncontrolled dopamine production is responsible for some of the symptoms of schizophrenia. (7)

"Patients with schizophrenia and other diseases have reported that marijuana appears to relieve some of their symptoms, but scientists have never found a physiological reason why," explains lead researcher Daniele Piomelli. "By understanding how the anandamide system works similarly to marijuana, we can explore new ways to treat these diseases more effectively." (8)

Follow up research by Piomelli's team on 10 schizophrenic patients and a control group found dramatically elevated levels of anandamide in those suffering from the disease. (9) This finding implies that the schizophrenics may produce extra anandamide to cope with or mediate excess dopamine production. "The implication is that if a drug could inject or stimulate anandamide production it might be more effective than dopamine blocking drugs used for 40 years to treat schizophrenia," the Orange County (California) Register newspaper opined after reviewing Piomelli's work. (10)

Given the fact that research regarding cannabis' role in treating schizophrenia still remains in its infancy, prudence demands that patients suffering from the disease proceed cautiously before deciding whether to use medical cannabis for treatment.