Medically used cannabis is booming – but according to an overview study, it is said to have no proven benefit for depression or anxiety disorders.
Mar 17, 2026, 5:35 a.mMar 17, 2026, 5:35 a.m
The study published in the journal “The Lancet Psychiatry” also found no proven benefit for post-traumatic stress disorders, as a research team from the University of Sydney writes. An expert has doubts about the statements.
Helps with pain, but not necessarily with psychological suffering: hemp cubes at a trade fair in Bangkok.Image: keystone
The researchers draw their conclusion after systematically evaluating data and findings from 54 international clinical studies with a total of 2,477 patients, which date from 1980 to 2025. According to their own information, the team has carried out the largest meta-analysis of its kind on the topic to date.
Possibly mild effects in autism or Tourette’s
Medical cannabis products could have some benefit for autism, insomnia or Tourette syndrome, the team writes. “But the general quality of the findings for these diseases is low,” emphasizes lead author Jack Wilson.
“Without high-quality medical support or accompanying therapy, the use of medical cannabis is rarely justified in these cases.”
Rather, there is a risk that the use of cannabinoids could delay more effective therapies or trigger undesirable side effects. “Routine use of medical cannabis could do more harm than good,” concludes Wilson.
Better effect on pain or epilepsy
The situation is different for non-mental illnesses: According to the authors, medicinal cannabis can definitely be used to relieve seizures in some forms of epilepsy, to reduce spasticity in multiple sclerosis or to treat some types of pain.
The expert on cannabis in medicine, Kirsten Müller-Vahl from the Hannover Medical School, who was not involved in the study, sees weaknesses in the study. For example, the cannabinoids THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) sometimes have “very different and sometimes even opposite effects” on psychoses or anxiety disorders, but are generally assessed together in the analysis.
If you look at it individually, there is evidence that CBD is effective for social anxiety disorders and evidence that THC – alone or in combination with CBD – reduces symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, says Müller-Vahl.
“Another weakness of the overview is the mixing of different anxiety disorders. “A joint evaluation was carried out for generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder,” said the expert from the German Press Agency. She considers the “warning against the use of cannabis-based medicines” in the study to be unfounded.
In Switzerland, the ban on cannabis for medical purposes was lifted in August 2022. (sda/dpa)