ArticlePloS one2022
A large Australian longitudinal cohort registry demonstrates sustained safety and efficacy of oral medicinal cannabis for at least two years.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health-related quality of life in patients receiving medicinal cannabis: systematic review and meta-analysis of primary research findings 2015-2025.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Clinical Outcomes and Patient Profiles in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry: A k-Means Clustering Analysis.Journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- UK Medical Cannabis Registry: An Updated Analysis of Inflammatory Arthritis.Clinical medicine insights. Arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
- Adverse events associated with medical cannabis reported within a centralized call center.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Consumer perspectives of accessing medicinal cannabis treatment from cannabis clinics versus generalist health settings in Australia.Journal of cannabis research · 2025Article
- Opioid reduction in patients with chronic non-cancer pain undergoing treatment with medicinal cannabis.Pain management · 2025Article
- NSW cannabis medicines advisory service retrospective enquiry analysis to inform clinical guidance resource development.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2025Article
- Characterization of Cannabis users and products and the experience of negative mental emotions following Cannabis use.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Article
- The driving-related attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of cannabis users in the Australian Capital Territory following decriminalisation.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Observational
- Clinical Benefits and Safety of Medical Cannabis Products: A Narrative Review on Natural Extracts.Pain and therapy · 2024Review
- Article
- Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionOral medicinal cannabis (MC) has been increasingly prescribed for a wide range of clinical conditions since 2016. Despite an exponential rise in prescriptions and publications, high quality clinical efficacy and safety studies are lacking. The outcomes of a large Australian clinical electronic registry cohort are presented.
methodsA prospective cannabis-naïve patient cohort prescribed oral MC participated in an ongoing longitudinal registry at a network of specialised clinics. Patient MC dose, safety and validated outcome data were collected regularly over two years and analysed.
results3,961 patients (mean age 56.07 years [SD 19.08], 51.0% female) with multimorbidity (mean diagnoses 5.14 [SD 4.08]) and polypharmacy (mean 6.26 medications [SD 4.61]) were included in this analysis. Clinical indications were for: chronic pain (71.9%), psychiatric (15.4%), neurological (2.1%), and other diagnoses (10.7%). Median total oral daily dose was 10mg for Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 22.5mg for cannabidiol (CBD). A stable dose was observed for over two years. 37.3% experienced treatment related adverse events. These were graded mild (67%), moderate (31%), severe (<2%, n = 23) and two (0.1%) serious adverse events. Statistically significant improvements at a p value of <0.001 across all outcomes were sustained for over two years, including: clinical global impression (CGI-E, +39%: CGI-I, +52%; p<0.001), pain interference and severity (BPI, 26.1% and 22.2%; p<0.001), mental health (DASS-21, depression 24.5%, anxiety 25.5%, stress 27.7%; p<0.001), insomnia (ISI, 35.0%; p<0.001), and health status (RAND SF36: physical function, 34.4%: emotional well-being, 37.3%; p<0.001). Mean number of concomitant medications did not significantly change over 2 years (p = 0.481).
conclusionsOral MC was demonstrated to be safe and well-tolerated for a sustained period in a large complex cohort of cannabis-naïve, multimorbid patients with polypharmacy. There was significant improvement (p<0.001) across all measured clinical outcomes over two years. Results are subject to limitations of Real World Data (RWD) for causation and generalisability. Future high quality randomised controlled trials are awaited.
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