Historical Uses

The Indian Ayurvedic medical tradition recognizes the sleep-inducing qualities of cannabis, in which it is characterized as nidrajanan (sleep-inducing). This ancient tradition is reflected in a 1991 survey of Indian cannabis users in the city of Varanasi, where 90 percent of the participants found cannabis effective for sleep. Historically, the use of cannabis to treat sleep disorders has been closely associated with its ability to reduce pain and discomfort. William O’Shaughnessy, an Irish physician working in colonial India in the nineteenth century, noted the effectiveness of cannabis as a sedative for the treatment of pain and rheumatism. After THC was first isolated in 1964, early studies showed that THC reduced the time required for patients to fall asleep, suppressed deep sleep, and sometimes produced hangover-like symptoms. In the late 1990s, a review was published that claimed that THC adversely altered brain wave patterns during sleep studies and left most patients with hangover effects (e.g., headaches, exhaustion).97 However, this was strongly contradicted in a 2007 review on the use of Sativex to treat sleep disorders caused by multiple sclerosis or arthritis pain; Sativex was shown to be highly effective in treating pain-induced insomnia in 13 different studies. In 2011, a Dutch pharmaceutical company introduced a medicine that was high in the cannabis essential oil called myrcene. Myrcene is found in indica varieties of cannabis and has been shown to be sedative when combined with THC.