Terpenology Conditions
The Evidence RecordMedical Cannabis

Medical Cannabis

Conditions

What the research actually supports, condition by condition, and what it does not.

Every page below reads the printed lab panel on a medical cannabis product and weighs it against a diagnosed condition, with each claim tiered and sourced. Every one also says plainly what the research does not support, which is the part no one else in the category prints.

How to read the evidence

A Human clinical trial B Human observational C Animal model D Cell or mechanism only E Anecdotal F No evidence found

Every condition is scored twice, because they are two different questions. Cannabinoid is the evidence for cannabis compounds like THC and CBD. Terpene is the evidence for the aroma compounds Terpenology actually reads off your product's label. When a card shows a strong cannabinoid tier next to a weak terpene one, it means cannabis as a drug has a real case for that condition while the specific thing we measure does not. That gap is the honest part, and we show it instead of hiding it.

Qualifying status varies by state, and the app shows where each condition qualifies for you. Below, every condition is scored on the evidence, which does not change from one state to the next.

Evidence record

Anxiety and Panic

Anxiety is the one condition where an isolated cannabis terpene has been tested in humans under controlled trial conditions, and the result is far more interesting, and far narrower, than the way it usually gets repeated.

Cannabinoid B–ATerpene C

Fit confidence: Low to moderate

Evidence record

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

ADHD is one of the places where a lot of adults will tell you, plainly, that cannabis helps them, and the honest job of this page is to hold two true things at once.

Cannabinoid BTerpene F

Fit confidence: Low, reported easing of restlessness and impulsivity, with a trade-off on focus

Evidence record

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism is where the distance between what people hope cannabis will do and what the research has actually shown is at its widest.

Cannabinoid C–DTerpene F

Fit confidence: Low, and only for co-occurring symptoms

Evidence record

Cancer and Chemo

Cannabis has real, FDA-recognized human evidence in cancer care, and it is entirely about easing nausea and appetite, not about treating the cancer.

Cannabinoid ATerpene F

Fit confidence: Moderate, and only for symptom support

Evidence record

Chronic Pain

Pain has the strongest case for medical cannabis of any condition we have reviewed, and thin evidence for the part of it we actually measure.

Cannabinoid ATerpene C

Fit confidence: Low to moderate

Evidence record

Crohn's Disease and IBD

The best trial we have says cannabis made Crohn's patients feel meaningfully better and did nothing measurable to their inflammation.

Cannabinoid ATerpene C

Fit confidence: Low

Evidence record

Depression

This is the one condition page where the most useful thing we can tell you is a warning.

Cannabinoid BTerpene C

Fit confidence: Low

Evidence record

Diabetes

The interesting diabetes result is real, and it is about a minor cannabinoid, not a terpene, and it has not been repeated.

Cannabinoid ATerpene C

Fit confidence: Insufficient; preclinical only

Evidence record

Epilepsy and Seizures

Everyone knows CBD is FDA-approved for seizures, and almost everyone misreads what that means.

Cannabinoid ATerpene C

Fit confidence: Very low, with a hard safety caveat

Evidence record

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia has a handful of small cannabis trials that mostly disagree with each other, and zero terpene evidence of any kind.

Cannabinoid ATerpene F

Fit confidence: Low

Evidence record

Lupus

Lupus is the clearest case in this whole series of a condition where the honest answer is that there is no answer yet.

Cannabinoid ATerpene F

Fit confidence: Insufficient evidence

Evidence record

Menstrual Health

Menstrual cramps are the one women's-health use with even a modest real-world human signal, and it comes tangled up: every human study mixed the terpene in with CBD and THC, so no one can say the terpene did the work.

Cannabinoid BTerpene C

Fit confidence: Low; symptom support only

Evidence record

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis has some of the strongest human cannabis evidence of any condition here, and none of it is about the terpene profile your label shows.

Cannabinoid ATerpene C

Fit confidence: Low

Evidence record

Neuropathic Pain

Nerve pain has human cannabis trials behind it, and they are more tempered than the headlines suggest, and the terpene evidence underneath is thinner still.

Cannabinoid ATerpene C

Fit confidence: Low to moderate

Evidence record

PTSD

PTSD is a qualifying condition in Pennsylvania, and it is also the place where the honest answer is hardest to sit with: the best controlled trial of cannabis for PTSD found it worked no better than placebo, and no terpene has ever been tested for it at all.

Cannabinoid ATerpene F

Fit confidence: Very low

Evidence record

Parkinson's Disease

Even the cannabinoid evidence for Parkinson's is weak enough that the Parkinson's Foundation declines to endorse cannabis for motor symptoms, and the terpene evidence is entirely in mice.

Cannabinoid BTerpene C

Fit confidence: Very low

Evidence record

Perimenopause

What women mostly use cannabis for in perimenopause is sleep and mood, and what the research offers is a single survey and a stack of borrowed preclinical claims.

Cannabinoid BTerpene C–D

Fit confidence: Low; symptom-routed only

Evidence record

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis has the best-supported terpene rationale of the autoimmune conditions we reviewed, which mostly tells you how thin that bar is.

Cannabinoid ATerpene C–D

Fit confidence: Low to moderate

Scan your label Browse terpenes The illustrated edition

Terpenology is educational, not medical advice. Terpene effects are tendencies commonly reported by patients and early research, never guaranteed outcomes. Nothing here is a substitute for the care of your certifying physician, your pharmacist, or the specialist treating your condition.

Terpenology
Medicate Smarter, Not Harder™