Study: Cannabis Appear Effective in Treating Vocal Tics in those with Tourette Syndrome
Regular administration of cannabis-based medicines is directly associated with improved speech in patients with Tourette Syndrome, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
For the study, researchers from Hannover Medical School (Germany) “report the cases of two young German male patients with treatment-resistant Tourette syndrome (TS), who suffer from incapacitating stuttering-like speech disfluencies caused by vocal blocking tics and palilalia.” In case 1, a 19-year old patient received whole-plant cannabis at a dose of 1 × 0.1 g daily. In case 2, a “16-year old patient initially received dronabinol at a maximum dose of 22.4–33.6 mg daily.”
According to the study; “Both treatments provided significant symptom improvement of vocal blocking tics as well as of comorbid conditions and were well tolerated.” Researchers examined “significant improvement not only of simple and complex motor and vocal tics, but also in the overall symptomology including comorbid conditions and most importantly significantly improved patients’ quality of life including their social contacts and performance at school without side effects.”
Thus, the study concludes, “cannabis-based medicine appears to be effective in treatment-resistant TS patients with vocal blocking tics.