Medical marijuana for animals: Weeding out the facts

While meandering through my college campus in the early 1970s, I would drift in and out of hazy wisps of pot smoke.  The pungent aroma was as much a part of campus life as were the young couples making out under the bell tower.  The campus police turned a blind eye toward such transgressions, and my impression then was that pot would be legalized sooner rather than later.

Wrong!  It wasn’t until the mid-’90s that California legalized marijuana for medical use.  Since then, 22 other states and the District of Columbia have passed laws legalizing it, including four states giving the nod to recreational use.

 

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, has been used for medicinal purposes for 3,000 years.  The cannabis plant produces more than 60 chemical compounds called cannabinoids.  One of those is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient that provides the high for which marijuana is known.¹ But there are others that have medicinal effects without altering consciousness.

 

The known therapeutic effects of cannabinoids on people are diverse:  Among other things, the compounds can relieve pain and inflammation, alleviate nausea, prevent the growth of blood vessels that supply tumors, subdue muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, stimulate appetite to prevent weight loss caused by illness, help control seizures, and have anti-viral activity.

   

Marijuana’s medicinal use has piqued the interest of veterinarians.  If pot works so well in humans, could it be of benefit to animals?

It turns out that it does seem to help them. It’s illegal to use marijuana on animals in all states, but that hasn’t stopped pet owners from trying it.  Veterinarians in states that have legalized pot have heard hundreds of stories from clients who have used the drug, often with good results, to help their sick pets.  I’ve read dozens of articles online by pet owners who turned to marijuana when mainstream drugs failed to control their pets’ pain, nausea, behavioral disorders, or weight loss.  That is hardly scientific data, and I certainly don’t recommend that my clients try this at home!  In fact, it’s illegal in every state for veterinarians to prescribe or recommend pot to treat pets.

There’s a risky side of this coin: marijuana toxicosis, which usually occurs after the ingestion of baked goods containing the substance.  This toxicity is no joke; a dog that has eaten marijuana will begin to show clinical signs -- incoordination and drowsiness, dilated pupils, a slow heart rate, possibly a loss of consciousness -- 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion. Death is rare, but possible. THC is stored in body fat, so the effects of the drug can last for days. 

Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, which is the most restrictive of the federal Controlled Substances Act categories and designates drugs that have no accepted medical uses and a high potential for abuse.  Although many states allow the use of medical marijuana, federal law prohibited it until late last year.  DEA agents would periodically raid medical marijuana dispensaries and shut them down.  This is no longer the case, but could change in the future under a less tolerant administration.

You can see how government policies might dampen drug companies’ enthusiasm for doing more research and developing more medical uses for marijuana.  If pot were to be reclassified as a Schedule II drug, research grants for exploring its medical potential in both humans and animals would become easier to obtain.  Without hard scientific data gleaned from research, there’s no way to learn which cannabinoids are effective in animals, what the proper dose is, and for which conditions they are efficacious.

 

My feeling is that some cannabinoids probably do provide therapeutic benefits, and that there is ample justification to study them (the non-psychotropic compounds).  It seems a shame that government policies are squelching the quest for more safe and effective drugs to help humans and animals alike.  Right now, marijuana is stigmatized by its classification in Schedule I, with the likes of cocaine and heroin.  I look forward to its reclassification to a Schedule II substance to stimulate research.

   

Until then, please wait for medical science to catch up to the demand for pet medical marijuana.  Until it has been thoroughly studied in animals, we cannot assume that marijuana affects humans and animals in the same ways, nor can we assume that it isn’t harmful.  As pet owners, we all face the possibility of our beloved furry friends developing problems for which the drugs in our armamentarium are ineffective.  But dosing your pet with pot may be putting him or her at risk.

  

¹ The supplement industry has taken advantage of the reputation of medical marijuana in humans and has formulated dog treats containing hemp-based non-psychoactive cannabinoids and small, legal amounts of THC. 

One company that has capitalized on the pot craze is Canna-Pet.  They make capsules and biscuits containing a “unique golden ratio of cannabinoids.”  Their dramatic claims of multiple benefits and aggressive claims of safety and efficacy awakened my cynical neurons.  No real research seems to support their claims, which are based on anecdote and extrapolation from the human side.  I doubt that these products are harmful, but just realize that you might be wasting your money if you buy them.

That being said, several veterinarians on our Veterinary Information Network say they have patients that have taken these products with varying success.  Not a ringing endorsement, but pet owners can give them a try without worrying that they’ll make Fido high.