Patterns of cannabis use among patients with multiple sclerosis

Abstract—To estimate the patterns and prevalence of cannabis use among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), 220 patients were surveyed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Seventy-two subjects (36%) reported ever having used cannabis for any purpose; 29 respondents (14%) reported continuing use of cannabis for symptom treatment. Medical cannabis use was associated with male gender, tobacco use, and recreational cannabis use. The symptoms reported by medical cannabis users to be most effectively relieved were stress, sleep, mood, stiffness/spasm, and pain. NEUROLOGY 2004;62:2098–2100 Published reports spanning 100 years suggest that people with spasticity may experience relief with cannabis.1 The epidemiology of cannabis use among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is not well de-scribed. A recent postal survey (60 % response rate) of 420 patients with MS from southern Alberta, Can-ada in 2000 estimated that 16 % of patients had used cannabis for therapeutic purposes.2 We report the results of a 2002 survey in which we evaluated th