With cannabis sleep products—from oils to gummies—showing up in everything from dispensaries to supermarkets, the question is everywhere: does cannabis actually help with insomnia?
In a new article, Dr Camilla Hoyos, a Chief Investigator on the SIESTA program and sleep researcher at the Woolcock Institute, breaks down what we know—and more importantly, what we don’t.
🧪 The bottom line?
Despite growing public interest and anecdotal reports, there’s little robust scientific evidence that medicinal cannabis improves sleep in people with insomnia. In fact, in one of her team’s recent studies, medicinal cannabis was linked to less total and REM sleep.
🧠Why is the evidence so limited?
Because studying cannabis in clinical trials is hard—due to cost, legal barriers, and a fragmented regulatory landscape in both Australia and the US.
🌿 What’s available in Australia?
Medicinal cannabis is legal via prescription, with over 1.5 million scripts issued—but it remains expensive, tightly regulated, and mostly based on unapproved products.
🔍 So what now?
Until larger, well-controlled trials are possible, cannabis for insomnia remains a promising but unproven option—and CBT-i (cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia) remains the gold standard.
👉 Read the full article here: https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/october-2024/is-cannabis-the-answer-to-insomnia