A new medical review questions whether prescribed cannabis provides meaningful benefits for most patients.
The researchers say they found limited evidence of effectiveness and identified significant health risks tied to cannabis.
The New York Post reported that the review, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed more than 2,500 scientific studies published between 2010 and 2025 examining cannabis and cannabis-based treatments.
Lead author Dr. Michael Hsu, an addiction psychiatrist at UCLA, said the findings show a gap between how medical cannabis is commonly viewed and what clinical evidence supports.
Medical cannabis is legal in 40 states and Washington, D.C., and many patients use it to address pain, sleep problems, anxiety, and other conditions.
The review found that proven benefits were largely confined to a narrow group of FDA-approved cannabinoid medications.
Those prescription drugs were shown to reduce chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, increase body weight in patients with HIV or AIDS-related appetite loss, and treat certain severe pediatric seizure disorders.
By contrast, the authors found insufficient evidence supporting cannabis for widely promoted uses such as acute pain, insomnia, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, Parkinson’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Current clinical guidelines do not recommend cannabis as a first-line treatment for pain.
The review also highlighted safety concerns.
Studies show high-potency cannabis is associated with higher rates of psychotic symptoms and generalized anxiety, particularly among younger users.
About 29% of people using cannabis for medical purposes met criteria for cannabis use disorder, a condition involving dependence and withdrawal symptoms.
Daily cannabis use, especially inhaled or high-THC products, was also linked to increased risks of heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes compared with occasional use.
Based on the findings, the authors recommended clinicians screen patients for heart disease and psychiatric conditions before suggesting THC-containing products.
They also urged doctors to review potential drug interactions and weigh risks carefully against potential benefits.
The researchers noted limitations in the analysis, including reliance on observational studies and variations in cannabis products and study design.
The findings arrive as federal cannabis policy remains unsettled.
Cannabis is still treated under federal law as a drug with no accepted medical use, even though some cannabis-based medications have been approved by the FDA.
Reports that President Donald Trump may support moving cannabis into a less restrictive federal category would signal a shift toward recognizing some medical use, potentially changing how doctors, researchers, and regulators are allowed to work with it.
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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