A new study in the peer-reviewed Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests that cannabis has an uplifting effect on people with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and may a therapeutic role in addressing the condition.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia examined data from Statistics Canada on about 24,000 Canadians and found that PTSD was connected to depression and suicidal thoughts among those who did not use cannabis, but not among those who did.
Researchers identified 420 PTSD sufferers from the pool of respondents, of which 28% reported using cannabis in the past year and 11% who did not. The group that did not use cannabis was found to be seven times more likely to have dealt with depression recently and 4.7% more likely to have had suicidal thoughts.
The study pointed out that until now, there has been no population-level data to suggest that cannabis might have a possible therapeutic role in the course of PTSD.
