Medicinal cannabis helped patients feel better for a full year

For many people living with chronic conditions, daily life means constant pain, disrupted sleep, and emotional strain. Traditional treatments often bring limited relief, while side effects from long-term medication can worsen a patient’s quality of life.

In recent years, medicinal cannabis has emerged as a potential alternative, offering a ray of hope where other therapies have failed.

A new long-term study offers compelling evidence that this treatment may be more than just a passing trend – it may be here to stay.

Conducted by researchers from the University of Sydney, the QUEST Initiative tracked patients over 12 months to assess whether improvements seen in the first three months of cannabis oil use could last. The answer, according to data published in the journal PLOS One, is yes.

Those who continued the treatment saw sustained gains in physical and mental well-being across a range of conditions.

Legalization of medicinal cannabis

Australia legalized medicinal cannabis in 2016 for patients not responding to standard treatment. Since then, more than one million people have been prescribed cannabis for over 200 health conditions. Most use it to manage pain, sleep disorders, anxiety, or depression.

Therapeutic effects stem from compounds like THC and CBD. These compounds offer alternatives to opioids, which carry risks such as addiction, bowel issues, and cognitive decline.

Clinically meaningful improvements

QUEST followed patients aged 18–97 across 114 clinics between November 2020 and December 2021. The participants completed regular assessments at baseline, 2 weeks, and eight timepoints up to 12 months.

They reported their own health-related quality of life (HRQL), including physical, emotional, and cognitive health. Other metrics included fatigue, pain, sleep, anxiety, and depression.

The study revealed clear trends. HRQL improved quickly and stayed high. EQ-5D-5L scores rose by 0.114 (Cohen’s d = 0.52). QLQ-C30 scores increased by 10.71 points (d = 0.91), a large clinical improvement.

Pain intensity and pain interference also dropped, especially in chronic pain patients. The PROMIS pain interference score improved by 4.87 points (d = 0.76). Fatigue fell by 4.70 points (d = 0.51), and sleep disturbances dropped by 5.96 points (d = 0.76).

Improvements for mental health conditions

Patients with anxiety or depression saw meaningful change after using medicinal cannabis. For those with depressive disorders, depression scores dropped by 7.19 points (d = 0.65), moving many from severe to moderate symptoms.

Anxiety scores improved by 5.65 points (d = 0.69) for patients with anxiety conditions. These changes exceeded the clinically accepted threshold of 5 points.

The THC to CBD ratio in the cannabis oil mattered. THC-dominant oils showed greater improvements in anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleep. CBD-dominant oils worked better for some pain types, including headache and cancer-related pain.

Musculoskeletal pain responded better to CBD-dominant oils than CBD-only ones. However, pain interference didn’t vary much across oil compositions.

Prescription medication and motor function

Nearly half of participants reported reducing other prescription medications. About 22% had been taking opioids when they joined. By the end of 12 months, 70% of these patients had reduced or stopped their opioid use.

People with movement disorders reported better HRQL. But they showed no significant change in upper limb function. Their average score increase (1.43 points) didn’t meet the clinical threshold for improvement.

PROM completion rates declined over time, falling to 38% at 12 months. Those who dropped out earlier showed less improvement. This suggests participants who continued saw more benefit from medicinal cannabis.

Benefits of medicinal cannabis

The results show that medicinal cannabis can quickly improve symptoms and maintain those benefits long-term. Clinicians now have more data to guide their decisions. The findings may also shape health policy.

“This is promising news for patients who are not responding to conventional medicines for these conditions,” noted the study authors.

The research adds to growing international data supporting medicinal cannabis. It also highlights the need for more targeted research into dosage, specific conditions, and long-term effects.

With over a million Australians already using it, the evidence is clear: medicinal cannabis is not just a temporary fix – it’s a lasting option for many.

The study is published in the journal PLOS One.

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