Page 10 - JCTR-11-1

Journal of Clinical and

Translational Research

REVIEW ARTICLE
Assessing the efficacy of cannabinoids in

managing cannabis use disorder: A systematic
review of randomized controlled trials with

pharmacological emphasis

1
Camila Mari Yamada 1 , Fernanda Valeriano Zamora * ,
Ana Clara Felix de Farias Santos 2 , Patrícia Almeida Jacob Moreno 3 ,
Nicole dos Santos Pimenta 4 , Joao Pedro Costa Esteves Almuinha Salles 4 ,
Lorhayne Kerley Capuchinho Scalioni Galvao 1 ,
Vânio Antunes do Livramento Junior 5 , and Andres Villca Zamora 1
1 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2 Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, City University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
3 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Center Dom Pedro II, Bahia, Brazil
4 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of the State of do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
5 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto
Alegre, Brazil
*Corresponding author:
Fernanda Valeriano Zamora
(valeriano.fernanda@
posgraduacao.uerj.br) Abstract
Citation: Yamada CM, Zamora FV, Background: Cannabis is the most used illicit drug worldwide. The increasing
de Farias Santos ACF, et al.
Assessing the efficacy of prevalence of cannabis use has raised concerns about the development of cannabis
cannabinoids in managing cannabis use disorder (CUD) and cannabis withdrawal syndrome (CWS). Thus far, however, no
use disorder: A systematic review medications have been proven effective for treating these conditions. In this context,
of randomized controlled trials with
pharmacological emphasis. J Clin several cannabinoid (CB) preparations are being investigated as potential treatments.
Transl Res. 2025;11(1):4-14. Aim: This systematic review aims to provide an overview of the key findings from
doi: 10.36922/jctr.24.00066 medical CBs in the management of CUD and CWS, focusing on the efficacy of and
Received: October 13, 2024 users’ tolerability to different CB formulations. Conclusion: The findings suggest that
1st revised: November 25, 2024 certain CB preparations, such as nabiximols and cannabidiol, may effectively reduce
cannabis use and enhance abstinence rates, providing hope for patients struggling
2nd revised: December 3, 2024 with CUD. Conversely, CB receptor agonists such as dronabinol and nabilone show
Accepted: January 7, 2025 limited therapeutic potential, indicating the need for further research to identify
Published online: March 3, 2025 effective treatments for cannabis dependence. Relevance for patients: These
findings offer potential treatment options to help patients reduce cannabis use and
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). improve abstinence from cannabis dependence.
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons AttributionNon-
Commercial 4.0 International Keywords: Cannabis use disorder; Cannabinoids; Cannabis withdrawal syndrome
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all
non-commercial use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited. 1. Introduction
Publisher’s Note: AccScience Cannabis use has grown considerably at the global level in the past two decades, making
Publishing remains neutral with it the most used illicit drug worldwide. In 2021, over 4% of the global population aged
regard to jurisdictional claims in
1
published maps and institutional 15 to 64, roughly 218 million people reported using cannabis in the past year. This
affiliations increasing prevalence of cannabis use has raised concerns about potential negative

Volume 11 Issue 1 (2025) 4 doi: 10.36922/jctr.24.00066