Survey shows Australians using cannabis to treat bowel disease – News – The University of Sydney

Inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract can be debilitating. Photo: Pixabay

Results from the anonymous online survey, published in the journal Crohns & Colitis, examined IBD severity, medication adherence, quality of life, as well as medicinal cannabis use and its perceived impact on these measures. The survey expanded on previous surveys by accessing a larger patient population. It also allowed separation of and insights into different IBD subgroups Crohns disease, ulcerative colitis or IBD unclassified; and different cannabis use populations non-user, previous user and current self-prescribed medicinal cannabis users.

Principal investigator and academic director of the Lambert Initiative Professor Iain McGregor said: The survey was inspired by the experiences of the Taylor family from the Blue Mountains: father Steven Taylor was arrested for growing cannabis to alleviate the suffering of his daughters Morgan and Taylor who suffered from severe IBD and found great relief from non-intoxicating cannabis leaf juice preparations.

A statement from the Taylor family said: Medicinal cannabis alleviated our daughters suffering after all conventional treatments failed. The survey reflects the lived experience in the community where vulnerable families resort to accessing unreliable products with no certainty of future supply. When doctors are so cautious about prescribing cannabis medicines and when current official products are unaffordable for patients, then either the law needs to change, or we need to have an amnesty for genuine medicinal users and their carers.

Professor McGregor said: This case reflects the reality that many IBD patients do not have their condition adequately managed by existing drugs and so turn to alternative options, such as cannabis, to manage their condition.

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Survey shows Australians using cannabis to treat bowel disease - News - The University of Sydney