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Question 57: Hi Dr. 'Dunc", My daughter
and I (she's 30) are watching you on Montel
Williams Show. We've seen other shows of his on this same disorder
and I have a question for you. Is this a disorder that could possibly
be helped with the use of medical marijuana? I've heard that it relaxes
a person. Would it relax a sufferer sufficiently to help 'control'
some of these involuntary tics? B.C., FL, USA.
Good Day
B.C.
This is
certainly a "hot topic" in the press these days, and yes some
initial exploration has been done in the area of marijuana and tic relief
with some positive results. However this one study needs to be replicated,
and more work needs to be done regarding long-term effects (or adverse
reactions), whether it is a better treatment than other currently used
and potentially safer interventions, etc.. I would anticipate that,
should benefits be confirmed, researchers will want to discover what
exactly it is about marijuana that helps, and then replicate this element
in a pharmaceutic that has fewer deliterious effects (and isn't illegal!).
If the only benefit ends up being its ability to relax an individual
(and, through stress reduction, indirectly decrease tics by "removing
the fuel") then I wouldn't expect the research to advance much
further beyond that, as there are many currently accepted "relaxation"
therapies and drugs available.
The reference I referred to in my response to you is:
Müller-Vahl,
KR, Koblenz, A, Jöbges, M, Kolbe, H, Emrich, HM & Schneider,
U. (2002). Influence of treatment of Tourette syndrome with delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol
(Delta9-THC) on neuropsychological performance. Pharmacopsychiatry,
33, 57-61.
