A landmark meta-analysis has failed to show that medicinal cannabis helps with anxiety, the second-most common indication for cannabis in Australia.

Australian and UK researchers have reviewed 54 studies published between 1980 and 2025 on the efficacy of cannabinoids for mental health conditions, with 2477 total participants. 

Their results, published in The Lancet Psychiatry this week, showed no benefit for most conditions, including anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, OCD, anorexia nervosa and opioid, tobacco, and cocaine use disorders.

Of six studies on anxiety, four studies with 293 participants were used for the meta-analysis, which showed no significant effect on anxiety symptoms at the longest follow-up.

×

Sign in

If this is your first visit to the new AusDoc website, reset your password
here.