One area of cannabis research that is of particular interest to people around the globe, and for obvious reasons, pertains to how the cannabis plant can be used to help people suffering from cancer. It’s one of the most intriguing, and yet also controversial topics in the cannabis world.
A growing body of peer-reviewed research is finding that the cannabis plant can help effectively treat cancer and related symptoms. It is important to differentiate between the claim that ‘cannabis can help treat cancer’ versus ‘cannabis cures cancer.’
Many personal patient experiences back up the claim that cannabis may cure cancer, in some instances. However, it is a very cruel thing to tell someone that is suffering from cancer that something, cannabis included, will absolutely cure their cancer, guaranteed. After all, nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to medicine and treatment regimens.
More research needs to be conducted, and hopefully one day there is a cure found for cancer, and if the cure does indeed prove to involve cannabis, that would be amazing. Until that time, the cannabis plant can still do other things to help suffering cancer patients, including when it comes to pain management.
A recent study out of Australia examined a specific cannabis spray to see if it helped treat cancer patients experiencing refractory pain, and the results of the study are encouraging. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:
New South Wales, Australia: Terminal cancer patients with refractory pain respond favorably to a proprietary cannabis spray containing equal ratios of plant-derived THC and CBD, according to data published in the journal PLOS One.
A team of Australian investigators assessed the safety and efficacy of a novel water-soluble oro-buccal nanoparticle spray containing 2.5 mgs of THC and 2.5 mgs of CBD in a cohort of patients with advanced cancer and intractable pain.
Researchers reported that cannabis dosing was associated with improvements in pain relief among all patients, with those patients suffering from bone metastasis experiencing the greatest levels of relief. No serious adverse events were reported, though some patients did experience drowsiness following treatment.
Patients also reported improvements in appetite and emotional well-being.
“This study demonstrated that the administration of the investigative cannabis-based medicine was generally safe and tolerated in a short-term exposure in a cohort of patients with advanced incurable cancers with controlled pain or intractable pain despite opioid treatment,” authors concluded. “There was a reduction in pain overall for the study cohort of 12 percent by the end of the treatment phase. … [This] cannabis-based medicine … is of significant clinical interest given that this formulation was a self-titrated medicine, that showed preliminary analgesic efficacy in a subgroup of patients.”
Full text of the study, “Pilot clinical and pharmacokinetic study of delat-9-tetrahydrocannabinol/cannabidiol nanoparticle oro-buccal spray in patients with advanced cancer experiencing uncontrolled pain,” appears in PLOS One. Additional information on cannabis for pain mitigation is available from NORML.
