New cannabis treatment

AN EXPERIMENTAL drug that boosts the brain’s own cannabis-like chemical may help reduce withdrawal symptoms, a trial has shown.

The findings, published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, show for the first time that men with cannabis dependence or cannabis-use disorder, when treated with the fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitor, PF-04457845 used less cannabis and experienced fewer withdrawal symptoms than those given a placebo.

Professor Deepak Cyril D’Souza, from Yale University School of Medicine, who led the research, said: “A lot of other drugs have been tested for their ability to reduce cannabis use and withdrawal, but until now none have been consistently shown to work against both withdrawal symptoms and relapse. Unlike cannabis it does not appear to have psychoactive or rewarding effects”, and are therefore not likely to be abused.”