The Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is a common and complex neuropsychiatric spectrum disorder, that is characterized by sudden spasms especially in the face, the neck and the shoulders, so called "tics".

A patient with Tourette's syndrome was successfully treated with THC, after he had reported relief from the use of marijuana to his physicians.

The 25-year-old man developed the disease during his childhood and was diagnosed at age 22. "At age 19, he started smoking marijuana. When using 2-3 g/day he noted a marked improvement of both vocal and motor tics and associated behavioral disorders. Therefore he stopped less effective medical treatment with pimozide," a letter of Dr. Kirsten Mueller-Vahl and colleagues from the University of Hanover to the American Journal of Psychiatry says.

He was treated once with 10 mg of delta-9-THC and his symptoms improved markedly according to objective criteria and subjective feeling: His total tic severity score was reduced from 41 to 7 just 2 hours after treatment. Both motor and vocal tics improved. The improvement began 30 minutes after treatment and lasted for about 7 hours. No adverse effects occurred. Even reaction time and sustained attention improved. At the Cologne Meeting on cannabis and cannabinoids as medicine in December 1998 Dr. Mueller-Vahl had presented an impressive video documenting this improvement.

As with other indications for THC or dronabinol, the motivation to conduct this study with THC came from the reproducible experience of patients with natural cannabis (Mueller Vahl et al. 1997). A subsequent clinical study of ten patients with Tourette's syndrome treated with THC has been finished in December 1998 and the findings are analysed at present.

(Source: Mueller-Vahl KR et al: Treatment of Tourette's syndrome with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Am J Psychiatry 156:3, 1999.)