Study Proves Cannabis Is Effective for Treating Cancer Symptoms

Thanks to what researchers are referring to as the “largest meta-analysis ever conducted on medical cannabis and its effects on cancer-related symptoms,” we now have “overwhelming” scientific evidence proving cannabis is an effective treatment for cancer symptoms. The research puts to rest the cannabis argument once in for all, at least where cancer symptom relief is concerned.

A Huge Meta-Analysis

The research, conducted by a group of experts at the Whole Health Oncology Institute, was conducted as a meta-analysis. A meta-analysis looks at previously published, peer-reviewed research in an attempt to pull together relevant data that creates a unified understanding of the topic at hand.

In this case, researchers looked at 10,641 peer-reviewed studies. Researchers claim that the number is ten times greater than the next-largest analysis covering the same topic. And with ten times as much data to work with, they believe they have uncovered “overwhelming scientific consensus” on cannabis’s benefits to cancer patients.

Among the researchers’ findings was this amazing statistic: for every one study demonstrating that medical cannabis is ineffective at relieving cancer symptoms, three studies proved effectiveness. That is 3-to-1, or 75%, in favor. It is a hard number to dispute when you are looking at over 10,000 previous studies.

Cancer’s Complicated Symptom List

What makes the research so important is the fact that cancer patients face a complicated range of symptoms. For starters, it’s not just the disease that creates uncomfortable symptoms. Cancer treatments generate their own symptoms – symptoms patients often say are worse than the disease symptoms. Cancer patients routinely complain of:

• Persistent pain
• Persistent nausea
• Insomnia
• Lethargy

I could continue listing symptoms, but I will stop here because medical cannabis seems to be most effective at relieving both pain and persistent nausea. These are the two big ones with cancer, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments.

The cancer patient able to enjoy at least moderate symptom relief is, at least in my view, more likely to continue with treatments designed to either put cancer into remission or allow the patient to live a longer life.

The other side of the coin is something I observed personally when my mother was dealing with cancer: experiencing little or no symptom relief can ultimately cause patients to give up on their treatments. They just don’t want to feel lousy anymore.

Pain Is Still the Most Cited Reason

Despite medical cannabis proving so overwhelmingly positive as a treatment for relieving cancer symptoms, chronic pain is still the most cited reason for consuming medical cannabis. In Utah, where Beehive Farmacy operates two medical cannabis pharmacies in Salt Lake City and Brigham City, pain is cited by more than two-thirds of all patients applying for medical cannabis cards.

Beehive Farmacy operators say some of their chronic pain patients could also be dealing with cancer. That would not be unusual. But they also say pain and cancer patients are joined by PTSD and chronic nausea patients in applying for medical cannabis cards.

My mother is among the millions who succumbed to cancer. She did not have access to medical cannabis at the time of her death. Were it available to her, she may have elected to use it and continue with her treatment. But since it wasn’t an option, she finally gave up after cancer returned the third time.

If medical cannabis can help relieve cancer symptoms, I am all for it. Cancer is a cruel killer that can make a patient’s final years unbearable. If medical cannabis can make those final years better or even extend a patient’s life by encouraging ongoing treatments, it’s a good thing.