An Alternative Treatment for Tourette’s Syndrome

Statistics indicate that there are over 100,000 Americans who are afflicted with TS (Tourette’s syndrome). This complex neuropsychiatric disorder that is characterized by involuntary vocal tics is of unknown etiology. While the severity of this problem varies widely among patients, research shows that the condition usually improves with age. Currently, there is no cure for Tourette’s syndrome. However, research shows that medical cannabis can help people cope with the symptoms.

Investigators in the Department of Clinical Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Medical School of Hanover in Germany published their findings in the March 1999 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. According to their results, in an uncontrolled open clinical trial, a 25 year old male patient afflicted with Tourette’s syndrome was successfully treated with one single 10 mg dose of MMJ. The severity of the vocal tic reduced from as high as forty one to a mere seven within just two hours after cannabinoid therapy.

A review of the experiment conducted shows that there is ample evidence to prove that cannabinoids are effective in the treatment of Tourette’s syndrome. In the test conducted, the condition of the patient dramatically improved and this effect lasted for about seven hours in a single session. This kind of scientific literature regarding several clinical trials now confirms the subjective experiences of patients who smoked marijuana using a reliable and valid rating scale for the first time. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled experiment, a single trial dose of medical marijuana was administered to a dozen adult patients afflicted with Tourette’s syndrome.

The preliminary results presented by the researches again confirmed that there was an incredible improvement in the OCB (obsessive compulsive behavior) and involuntary vocal tics after delta 9 THC treatment when compared to the placebo. Furthermore, investigators concluded that not only was medical marijuana safe and effective in treating these symptoms of TS but also the test subjects did not report any cognitive impairment after it was administered to them.

The same results were again observed in a second randomized, placebo-controlled, randomized trial that involved twenty four patients this time. These patients were administered doses of ten mg of Medical cannabis on a daily basis over a period of six weeks. All the test subjects suffered no damaging effects on their verbal memory, recall, or learning. In fact, they experienced a drastic reduction in the tics that are characteristic of Tourette’s syndrome. In October 2003, the summary of these findings were published in the journal, The Expert Opinions in Pharmacotherapy.