Cannabis is a cost-effective alternative therapy for PTSD, study finds

Key findings

• A new study found that cannabis edibles, pills, and oral solutions were cost-effective complementary treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) under various insurance reimbursement models.
• Dried cannabis flower was less cost-effective because of its higher price tag, but was still cost-effective in some insurance coverage scenarios.
• Even when medical cannabis was not covered at all by insurers, it still improved health without increasing costs, making it an appealing option for patients with PTSD who pay out of pocket for treatment.

Adding cannabis to PTSD treatment may reduce costs, improve outcomes

Medical cannabis is a highly cost-effective complementary therapy for PTSD, according to the results of a new study by Leafwell published in Clinical Drug Investigation.

PTSD is a debilitating mental health condition. Traditional treatments — including antidepressants and antipsychotics — often leave patients unsatisfied. This is due to limited effectiveness, significant side effects, and high treatment costs.

Medical cannabis is a lower-cost alternative therapy for PTSD. However, no previous studies have considered whether cannabis can reduce the high costs of traditional PTSD treatment.

To investigate this, the study’s authors, led by Mitchell L. Doucette, PhD, MS, Senior Director of the Health Economics and Outcomes Research Division of Leafwell, compared the relative costs and health benefits of:

• traditional treatment for moderate PTSD
• traditional treatment for moderate PTSD plus medical cannabis

Using cost-effectiveness analyses, they looked at situations where health insurance payors covered 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% of the total yearly cost of medical cannabis.

To help determine cost-effectiveness, they used a commonly accepted willingness-to-pay threshold for U.S. insurance companies. This threshold marks when an insurer is typically willing to pay for something based on its cost vs. benefits.

Medical cannabis was cost-effective at various reimbursement rates

Cannabis edibles, oral solutions, and pills were found to be highly cost-effective.

This was true whether insurance covered 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of the cannabis treatment. It remained true for both low- and high-cost cannabis products.

Dried flower, which is often more expensive than other cannabis formulations, was only cost-effective when insurance covered at least 50% to 75% for high- and low-cost cannabis, respectively. But it still offered cost savings and benefits in these scenarios.

Even 0% reimbursement led to health benefits

The researchers also found that even when insurance covered 0% of medical cannabis — that is, patients paid entirely out of pocket — there were still meaningful improvements in health.

This makes medical cannabis an appealing option for patients who pay out of pocket and suggests it can add health benefits at no additional cost to insurers.

The takeaway: Insurance providers may want to consider covering medical cannabis for PTSD

Overall, these findings suggest that traditional PTSD treatment plus medical cannabis was less costly than traditional treatment alone.

As such, while health insurance providers don’t currently cover medical cannabis, they may want to consider it.

If insurance providers were to cover medical cannabis, more people with PTSD may be able to afford it while reducing healthcare costs in other areas. This offers financial benefits to both patients and insurance providers.

“This study is a crucial step in demonstrating the economic and therapeutic value of medical cannabis in mental health care,” stated Dr. Doucette.

“Additional high-quality clinical trials and real-world studies are needed to validate our estimates, refine dosing strategies, and account for potential adverse events,” he added.

“The possibility that medical cannabis could substitute for other PTSD medications, such as [antidepressants] and benzodiazepines, also warrants deeper investigation, as it may yield further health and economic benefits,” he suggested.

Read the full study here.