Medicinal cannabis might reduce severe behavioural problems such as irritability, aggression and self-injury in children with intellectual disabilities, Australian researchers say.

A team led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, has found preliminary evidence that cannabidiol led to a clinically significant change in the child’s behaviour and had no serious side effects.

In the pilot feasibility study, eight patients aged 8-16 with intellectual disabilities and comorbidities including autism, took either cannabidiol in oil, up-titrated to 20mg/kg per day, or oral placebo, for eight weeks.

The cannabidiol group had a 12-point mean reduction in aberrant behaviour scores compared with a 2.5-point mean reduction among controls and the intervention was acceptable to the patients and their families.