Cannabis-based sleep apnea medication awaits FDA approval

Written By Emily Gray Brosious

Researchers are studying a cannabis-based pill that could potentially treat sleep apnea, a condition affecting more than 12 million Americans that causes breathing to stop and start during sleep and can lead to health problems like heart disease, as reported by ABC-11 in Raleigh Durham.

Current treatment for sleep apnea includes a CPAP mask that is worn overnight to facilitate steady breathing during sleep.

If you have never seen a CPAP machine, it’s a somewhat big contraption that some people say is not comfortable to wear on the face overnight.

“The CPAP, although it helps me sleep, I get these marks and I’ve got to wait all day and try to pump my face back up because I got the marks all over my face,” sleep apnea sufferer Lisa Smith told ABC-11.

Now researchers are studying a synthetic cannabis medication called dronabinol that might be viable, and a much less intrusive, treatment for sleep apnea if approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Dronabinol has previously been prescribed to cancer patients for treating nausea induced by chemotherapy treatment.

The medication also helps keep the upper airway open during sleep, which is why it might be an effective sleep apnea treatment, according to ABC-13.