Medicinal cannabis (Bedrolite) substitution therapy in inpatients with a psychotic disorder and a comorbid cannabis use disorder: A case series

Cannabis use disorders are frequently comorbid in patients with a psychotic disorder and are associated with worse outcomes. To date there are no proven effective strategies to achieve cannabis abstinence in this population. An alternative for abstinence might be harm reduction, i.e. replacing the use of street cannabis with high tetrahydrocannabinol and low cannabidiol levels by medicinal cannabis variants with relatively low tetrahydrocannabinol and relatively high cannabidiol levels, thereby reducing the psychosis inducing effects of cannabis and enhancing the antipsychotic effects of cannabis. Here we present the data of a case series with seven inpatients diagnosed with a psychotic disorder and a treatment-resistant cannabis use disorder who received substitution therapy with a low tetrahydrocannabinol medicinal cannabis variant (Bedrolite). The results suggest that the low tetrahydrocannabinol medicinal cannabis variant Bedrolite is not effective in the treatment of inpatients with a psychotic disorder and comorbid cannabis use disorder. Bedrolite is thus not very likely to become an effective harm reduction strategy in these patients.