IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i8p5430-d1117983.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Medicinal Cannabis for Paediatric Developmental, Behavioural and Mental Health Disorders

Author

Listed:
  • Daryl Efron

    (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
    The Royal Children’s Hospital, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
    Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia)

  • Kaitlyn Taylor

    (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia)

Abstract

Parents of children with developmental, behavioural and mental health disorders are increasingly asking whether medicinal cannabis might be a therapeutic option for their child. This paper presents the current evidence for medicinal cannabis in this population. Preliminary evidence from open-label studies suggests the potential for medicinal cannabis to ameliorate some symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder. However, only one double-blind placebo-controlled trial has been completed, with inconclusive findings. Synthetic, transdermal cannabidiol gel has demonstrated efficacy for reducing social avoidance in a sub-group of children with Fragile X syndrome. Studies of medicinal cannabis are planned or underway for children and/or adolescents with autism, intellectual disability, Tourette’s syndrome, anxiety, psychosis, anorexia nervosa and a number of specific neurodevelopmental syndromes. High quality evidence from double-blind placebo-controlled trials is needed to guide clinical practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Daryl Efron & Kaitlyn Taylor, 2023. "Medicinal Cannabis for Paediatric Developmental, Behavioural and Mental Health Disorders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:8:p:5430-:d:1117983
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/8/5430/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/8/5430/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:8:p:5430-:d:1117983. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.