FRIDAY June 27 (HealthDay News) -- Drugs that contain compounds
called cannabinoids from the marijuana plant don't increase the
risk of serious side effects but are associated with an increase in
some non-serious side effects, Canadian scientists report.
The researchers at McGill University in Montreal and the
University of British Columbia (UBC) examined adverse events
reported in 31 clinical studies of cannabinoid medications
conducted between 1966 and 2007.
The adverse events were grouped as serious or non-serious.
Serious adverse events included those that led to hospitalization,
disability or death. Non-serious adverse events included dizziness
and drowsiness.
"Overall, we found an 86 percent increase in the rate of
non-serious adverse events among the patients treated with
cannabinoids compared to the patients in the control groups," Dr.
Mark Ware, a neurosciences researcher at the Research Institute of
the McGill University Health Centre, said in a prepared
statement.
Most of the non-serious side effects were mild to moderate in
severity.
The study was published in the June 16 issue of the
Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Cannabinoids have been shown to help treat chronic pain from
diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and
fibromyalgia. The drugs also stimulate appetite and relieve nausea,
according to background information in the study.
Doctors must balance the benefits of these drugs against
possible side effects, the researchers said.
"We have summarized the adverse events from these studies to
help educate physicians and patients about the possible risks of
medical cannabinoids. We cannot extend these results to smoked
cannabis or recreational use. That will require further research,"
Dr. Jean-Paul Collet, senior researcher at the Child & Family
Research Institute and director of the Centre for Applied Health
Research and Evaluation at British Columbia Children's Hospital,
said in a prepared statement.
More information
The National Pain Foundation has more about
cannabinoids.
