Cannabis and Huntington's Disease

Huntington’s Chorea, also known as Huntington’s disease (HD), is a rare inherited neurodegenerative disease with its earliest symptoms affecting a person’s mood and mental abilities. It is often characterized by a general lack of coordination and an unsteady gait, usually resulting in movement, cognitive, and psychiatric disorders.

In a recent literature review on Medical Marijuana’s Effects in Movement Disorders with a Focus on Huntington Disease, the authors concluded that “the majority [of subjects] showed statistically significant results favoring the use of medical marijuana, especially for improving motor symptoms and quality of sleep.” Before diving further into the possible beneficial relationship between cannabis and Huntington’s disease patients, it’s important to first get a better understanding of the disease.

Understanding Huntington’s Chorea

According to Mayo Clinic, movement disorders associated with Huntington’s disease include both involuntary movements and impaired voluntary movements such as jerking or writhing (chorea), rigidity and muscle contracture (dystonia), abnormal eye movements, problems with posture, balance, and speech defects. These impairments, especially involuntary movements, can have a huge impact on a person’s ability to perform daily tasks and communicate effectively. In terms of cognitive disorders, patients often lose their ability to stay focused on a task, control their impulses, and process new information for learning.

For many patients, these symptoms cause major psychological distress and can result in other comorbidities such as depression, social withdrawal, insomnia, apathy, and general fatigue. Weight loss is also an extremely common side effect in HD patients, especially as the disease progresses.

Medical Marijuana and Huntington’s Chorea