People may smoke weed to "mellow out," but experts say medicinal cannabis and its chemical relatives don’t effectively relieve mental health disorders like depression or anxiety . The evidence just isn’t there. That’s according to the most comprehensive analysis of medical cannabinoids and mental health to date. Cannabinoids, which include any chemical derived from the Cannabis plant that exerts drug-like effects in the body, "are often advocated as a treatment for various mental health conditions," according to the new analysis, published today (Oct. 28) in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry . Despite the hype, little evidence supports the notion that medicinal cannabinoids treat mental health disorders more effectively than placebo pills — treatments designed to do nothing, study co-author Louisa Degenhardt, a professor of epidemiology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, said in a statement. What little research does exist fails to meet standard criteria […]