THC more effective than CBD in treating autism, shows a new preliminary study

By Jelena Martinovic

With cannabis becoming less stigmatized, the autism community is exploring treatments that are more accessible and less pharmaceutical.

So far, a number of studies have confirmed that medicinal cannabis helps alleviate behavioral problems in children with autism.

Photo by Fernando @dearferdo via Unsplash

For example, a 2019 study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders found that using cannabidiol-rich cannabis in a study of 60 children on the autism spectrum improved behavioral outbursts in 61% of patients.

This was proven by an Israeli study published in the journal Nature in 2019. Between 2015 and 2017, a total of 188 patients with the same disease were treated with an oil that contained 30% CBD and 1.5% THC. The oil appeared to be “well tolerated, safe and effective”.

THC more effective than CBD

However, Israeli scientists went a step further and suggested that THC is the more promising cannabinoid than CBD for treating the disorder.

RELATED: Israeli Study Shows Marijuana Can Relieve Autism Symptoms

Researchers said in a new study published in October that cannabis is about to change the direction of treating autism.

After studying a large mouse model of autism, researchers at Tel Aviv University concluded that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may be more effective than CBD.

Researcher Shani Poleg told the Times of Israel that the studies currently underway “tend not to focus enough on the details of what in cannabis could help people.”

Poleg added that THC was more effective in her comments on the results of preliminary research supervised by Prof. Daniel Offen and recently peer-reviewed and published in the journal Translational Psychology.

“The main difference was that THC treatment also improved social behavior, not just repetitive, compulsive behavior,” she said.

Photo by Anthony Fomin via Unsplash

Poleg explained that the cannabis oil given to the mice contained small amounts of THC.

“We saw a significant improvement in behavioral tests after treatments with cannabis oil,” she said, adding that “there was no long-term effect on cognitive or emotional tests done a month and a half after starting treatment”.

RELATED: The Potential of CBD and Cannabis in the Anxiety and Autism Community

However, the mutation that caused autism in Poleg’s mice is found in a small minority of human cases of autism.

“But we hope this can both stimulate further research into medical cannabis use in autism and lead to the use of a better kind of cannabis,” concluded Poleg.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.