Title:Is the Clinical Use of Cannabis by Oncology Patients Advisable?
Volume: 21
Issue: 17
Author(s): Gil Bar-Sela, Adva Avisar, Ron Batash and Moshe Schaffer
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Cancer, cannabinoid, cannabis, oncology, pain, palliative care.
Abstract: The use of the cannabis plant for various medical indications by cancer patients has been rising significantly in
the past few years in several European countries, the US and Israel. The increase in use comes from public demand for the
most part, and not due to a scientific basis. Cannabis chemistry is complex, and the isolation and extraction of the active
ingredient remain difficult. The active agent in cannabis is unique among psychoactive plant materials, as it contains no
nitrogen and, thus, is not an alkaloid. Alongside inconclusive evidence of increased risks of lung and head and neck cancers
from prolonged smoking of the plant produce, laboratory evidence of the anti-cancer effects of plant components exists,
but with no clinical research in this direction. The beneficial effects of treatment with the plant, or treatment with
medicine produced from its components, are related to symptoms of the disease: pain, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite
and weight loss. The clinical evidence of the efficacy of cannabis for these indications is only partial. However, recent
scientific data from studies with THC and cannabidiol combinations report the first clinical indication of cancer-related
pain relief. The difficulties of performing research into products that are not medicinal, such as cannabis, have not allowed
a true study of the cannabis plant extract although, from the public point of view, such studies are greatly desirable.
