Can pot help with PTSD?

Photo: Contributed - Business Wire

Tilray currently has more than 40 medical cannabis strains in cultivation at its 60,000-square-foot research and production facility in Nanaimo, BC.

The country’s first clinical trial into the therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will be conducted here in the Okanagan.

The study will take place at UBCO, in partnership with Tilray – a licensed producer through Health Canada. Together, the study is poised to be one of the first in the world to examine using medical cannabis as a treatment for a mental health disorder.

Forty men and women who meet the clinical criteria of trauma experience will be selected. They will be made up of war veterans, first responders, and sexual assault survivors who suffer from flashbacks, anxiety, depression, anger, irritability, and changes in sleep and appetite patterns.

“Even with current treatments, many patients continue to struggle with the debilitating effects of PTSD,” says Associate Professor Zach Walsh, the principal investigator for the study and a clinical psychologist.

“There is promising preclinical and anecdotal evidence supporting the potential of medical cannabis to alleviate PTSD symptoms, particularly among veterans. We have an ethical responsibility to examine all possible treatment options to ease their suffering.”

The Phase II, placebo-controlled, randomized, triple blind, crossover clinical trial will gather evidence about the safety and efficacy of different medical cannabis strain combinations to manage chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD symptoms.

The trial is expected to launch next summer, pending necessary regulatory approvals, and is scheduled to conclude in late 2016.

“The UBC-Tilray trial will enable us to learn more about the science of cannabis as therapy for PTSD,” says Dr. Joshua Eades, chief science officer at Tilray. “The use of strains with varying cannabinoid profiles will help us understand more about which cannabinoids are most effective at alleviating PTSD symptoms in veterans, first responders and trauma victims.”