Health officials warn medical cannabis could be harmful
Here is what you need to be aware of.
Health officials warn taking cannabis for medical purposes can be dangerous, the Daily Mail reported.
The dangers of marijuana can outweigh the benefits, according to medical guidelines recently issued in Canada.
Researcher did not find much evidence to show that cannabis has a strong beneficial impact on patients. The only thing they did find was it does offer pain relief for serious conditions like cancer and multiple sclerosis. However, they say the impact was marginal.
Howeever, through research they learned more about the side effects. 11% of patients were unable to tolerate medical cannabinoids. They also found almost half of them experienced feeling dizzy, confused and sedated.
Official urge doctors to "take a sober second thought" before making the choice to prescribe the drug.
"While enthusiasm for medical marijuana is very strong among some people, good-quality research has not caught up," Professor Mike Allan of the University of Alberta, who was involved in writing the guidelines, told the Daily Mail.
"Medical cannabinoids should normally only be considered in the small handful of conditions with adequate evidence and only after a patient has tried of number of standard therapies," he believes.
The report was originally published in the Canadian Family Physician journal.