Cannabis drug could ease agitation and distress for people with dementia
A CANNABIS-based drug already used to treat MS could ease agitation and aggression in people with dementia, scientists hope. A study is underway to discover whether the Sativex mouth spray can help manage behavioural symptoms in care homes. Lead researcher Chris Albertyn said alternatives to antipsychotic medication were urgently needed.
While those drugs have sedative effects, it is thought Sativex could amplify pleasurable feelings and reduce distress with fewer unwanted side effects. Mr Albertyn said: “We all have cannabinoids in us already which regulate our internal balance.
“When we feel pain, hungry, sleepy or our mood fluctuates, those are regulated by this internal endocannabinoid system which essentially brings us back to the middle anytime that we’ve gone to an extreme.
“That’s the target for us because it’s implicated in all these behavioural and psychological fluctuations that we have naturally. It’s just a matter of reducing the extremes.”
Non-drug therapies such as social groups, music sessions or massage therapy are preferred for people with behavioural symptoms. But many had to be stopped during the pandemic and the proportion of dementia sufferers being given antipsychotic drugs increased.
The trial, led by King’s College London and funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK, is recruiting 60 patients living in care homes, where they can be closely monitored.