Cannabinoids 2008;3(2):8-10 (22 June 2008)

Original article

Treating depression with cannabinoids

Kurt Blaas

Lindengasse 27/10, 1070 Vienna, Austria, drblaas@blowdoc.at

Although a variety of drugs are available for the treatment of depression, therapy is not effective in all cases and finding alternative options is desirable. Results from animal studies, anecdotal ex-perience reported by patients using cannabis and observations from clinical studies where can-nabinoids were used in serious diseases suggest an anti-depressive potential of cannabinoid recep-tor agonists. From 2003 to 2006, 75 patients suffering from depression, stress and burnout syn-drome were successfully treated in a practice for general medicine with the cannabis ingredient dronabinol, alone or in combination with other antidepressants. Two case studies will be pre-sented. The presented observations suggest that dronabinol has an antidepressive potential that can readily be used in medical practice.

Keywords
Depression, burnout, cannabinoid, cannabis, dronabinol

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