Lisbon: Evidence is still thin on the benefits of medicinal use of cannabis, an EU agency that monitors illegal drugs and addiction said on Tuesday, urging more study into the topic as growing numbers of countries allow it.
The Lisbon-based EMCDDA said in its first report on the topic that so far there were “important gaps in the evidence”.
A handful of regulated pharmaceuticals use chemicals derived from cannabis . But cannabis itself and most products made from it are governed by countries’ individual criminal laws on illegal drugs, which may or may not allow medicinal use.
Medical marijuana has been legal in some U.S. states and Canada since the 1990s. Within the EU, it is allowed in countries including Germany, Italy, Denmark, Portugal and the Czech Republic. Britain decided in July to allow it.
The EMCDDA said there was a “need for additional research and clinical studies, including larger and better-designed trials, studies looking at dosage and interactions between medicines, and studies with longer-term follow-up of participants”.
It found “moderate” evidence that cannabis helped patients suffering from muscle spasms due to multiple sclerosis, chronic non-cancer pain and epilepsy in childhood.
