Paper under review – Mücke, M., Welsch, P., Klose, P., Phillips, T., Radbruch, L., Petzke, F., & Häuser, W. (2026). Cannabis-based medicines for chronic neuropathic pain in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2026(1), CD012182. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012182.pub3

Cannabis products did not convincingly improve pain by clinically meaningful margins as compared with placebo.

Although small improvements were noted in patient related outcomes with combination of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, these were not judged to be significant enough to make a difference in daily life.

THC containing products were linked with dizziness, drowsiness and cognitive effects.

The systematic review involved assimilation of data from 21 randomised control trial, involving more than 2000 participants.

This updated version of the review takes a more nuanced approach by classifying cannabis based products into combination of THC and cannabidiol, THC alone and CBD alone. Out of the three, only the combination shows a small signal of benefit.

References

Mücke, M., Welsch, P., Klose, P., Phillips, T., Radbruch, L., Petzke, F., & Häuser, W. (2026). Cannabis-based medicines for chronic neuropathic pain in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2026(1), CD012182. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012182.pub3