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Abstract
Patients with multiple sclerosis have long turned to complementary therapies to manage symptoms that licensed products can only partially control. Around half of patients with multiple sclerosis admit to previous or current cannabis use for medicinal purposes and would endorse legalisation. Despite many governments worldwide relaxing regulations around medicinal cannabis, there remain many unanswered questions as to how clinicians should prescribe or recommend products, and access to pharmaceutical-grade products remains highly restricted. Here we address what adult neurologists need to know about cannabis and its use in multiple sclerosis.
- multiple sclerosis
- pain
- spasticity
- cannabis
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Footnotes
Contributors Both authors contributed to the design, writing and review of this manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests GI has accepted payments and honorariums for speaking, travel and advisory boards from Merck, Genzyme and Biogen. ORP has accepted payments and honorariums for speaking, travel and advisory boards from Merck, Genzyme, Roche, Biogen, Novartis and Teva.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned. Externally peer reviewed by Neil Scolding, Bristol, UK.
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