Evidence from Human Studies for Utilising Cannabinoids for the Treatment of Substance-Use Disorders: A Scoping Review with a Systematic Approach

Kayvan Ali Gharbi (), Yvonne Ann Bonomo and Christine Mary Hallinan ()
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Kayvan Ali Gharbi: Department of General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
Yvonne Ann Bonomo: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
Christine Mary Hallinan: Department of General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-25

Abstract: Substance-use disorders are pervasive, comorbid with a plethora of disease and possess limited treatment options. Medicinal cannabinoids have been proposed as a novel potential treatment based on preclinical/animal trials. The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of potential therapeutics targeting the endocannabinoid system in the treatment of substance-use disorders. We performed a scoping review using a systematic approach of systematic reviews, narrative reviews, and randomised control trials that utilised cannabinoids as treatment for substance-use disorders. For this scoping review we used the PRISMA guidelines, a framework for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, to inform our methodology. We conducted a manual search of Medline, Embase, and Scopus databases in July 2022. Of the 253 results returned by the databases, 25 studies including reviews were identified as relevant, from which 29 randomised controlled trials were derived and analysed via a primary study decomposition. This review captured a small volume of highly heterogenous primary literature investing the therapeutic effect of cannabinoids for substance-use disorders. The most promising findings appeared to be for cannabis-use disorder. Cannabidiol appeared to be the cannabinoid showing the most promise for the treatment of multiple-substance-use disorders.

Keywords: substance-use disorders; cannabinoids; dronabinol; cannabidiol; treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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