Medical cannabis for humans is legal and commonly used in a number of countries and U.S. states. But its adoption in veterinary practices has lagged behind human medicine. Dozens of scientific studies point to cannabis’s potential for treating seizures, pain, anxiety and fear, mostly in dogs. Mounting anecdotal evidence from countries like Mexico, where veterinarians can legally administer the plant or its compounds, suggests benefits across a variety of other conditions in species as varied as parrots, turtles and hyenas.
But despite the promising findings, challenges abound for introducing cannabis into veterinary medicine: confusion about the law, lingering drug-related stigma, a lack of education and a dearth of peer-reviewed studies. In most countries, including the United States, prohibitive or incomplete legislation also hampers veterinarians’ abilities to study and use cannabis in their practices.
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Laws in places like California have begun to make way for veterinary cannabis. And a small but growing number of international veterinarians have united to bring cannabis into mainstream veterinary medicine through education, research and activism.
