Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disease that manifests itself with very characteristic signs, since affected people are unable to repress gestures, movements and sounds, a series of involuntary and repeated tics that can worsen or improve throughout its evolution. This disorder affects approximately 1% of the population, usually begins during childhood, and is more common in men than in women.
This pathology has no cure and its treatment is intended to alleviate the symptoms to improve the quality of life of patients, but the results of a new study carried out by Australian scientists may offer a hopeful therapeutic alternative. Specifically, these researchers have conducted the first robust clinical trial demonstrating that medical cannabis is effective in combating the debilitating effects of Tourette syndrome.
The clinical trial was led by Dr. Philip Mosley, a neuropsychiatrist and investigator at the Wesley Research Institute and the QIMR Berghofer Institute for Medical Research. The findings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine: Evidence and show a statistically and clinically significant decrease in motor and vocal tics in these patients in just six weeks.
Cannabis prevented involuntary movements and vocalizations
The research has been co-funded by the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney and the Wesley Research Institute, which helped with the design and execution of the trial and analyzed the levels of cannabinoids in the blood of the participants. Twenty-two adult patients with severe Tourette’s symptoms were included in the study. These people received either medical cannabis oil or a placebo for two six-week periods. The analysis found a significant association between cannabis levels in the bloodstream and response to active treatment.
“Medical cannabis can reduce tics to a level that makes a life-changing difference for people with Tourette syndrome and their families”
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the active hallucinogenic compound in cannabis whose consumption causes a euphoric effect, while CBD or cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive compound. Both are used for medicinal purposes in Australia, while in Spain last year the expansion of the use of medicinal cannabis was approved.
Study co-author Professor Iain McGregor, Academic Director of the Lambert Initiative, said: “While there are well-known concerns about the side effects of THC on cognition and mental health, this trial demonstrates that careful dosing of THC in an oral formulation it is very well tolerated in a group of relatively young patients”.
“This is the first rigorous and methodical trial of medical cannabis to be carried out in a large enough group of people to draw definitive conclusions about its efficacy,” said Dr. Mosley, adding: “It shows that medical cannabis can reducing tics to a level that makes a life-changing difference for people with Tourette syndrome and their families. In addition, we found that other symptoms associated with Tourette syndrome in our participants were also reduced, particularly symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety.”
“Cannabis interacts with specific receptors on nerve cells in the brain that are part of the body’s own ‘endocannabinoid’ system,” explains Dr. Mosley. “Effectively, stimulating these receptors adjusts a leaky filter that now prevents involuntary movements and vocalizations from getting out and being expressed by our participants.”
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