A new study has uncovered significant evidence supporting the use of medical cannabis in cancer treatment. The study suggests medical cannabis may not only alleviate symptoms but also combat the disease itself.
The study, which was just published in Frontiers in Oncology, attempts to reach an agreement among scientists regarding the use of cannabis in cancer treatment.
The goal of this analysis, according to main author Ryan Castle, research director at the Whole Health Oncology Institute, was to address the current discussion by compiling and assessing a wide range of publications.
The Guardian cited Castle as saying, “Our goal was to determine the scientific consensus on the topic of medical cannabis, a field that has long been dominated by a war between cherry-picked studies.”
The research, which was funded by Cancer Playbook, a collaborative effort with the Whole House Oncology Institute to collect and analyse patient-reported data, is based on a review of over 10,000 studies related to medical cannabis and cancer. This huge pool of research reportedly surpasses the scale of any previous study in the field.
Despite limitations imposed by the restricted legal status of cannabis, which has hampered direct clinical studies on humans, the researchers used a broad spectrum of observational and laboratory-based studies. These include animal trials and cell research exploring the effects of cannabis on tumour growth.
Castle’s team endeavoured to incorporate as many of these studies as possible to ensure a comprehensive review.
Castle said, “To move beyond bias–conscious or not–it was essential to use a large-scale, radically inclusive methodology based on mathematical reasoning.”
The analysis showed a clear pattern. It identified studies with positive, neutral and negative views on cannabis’s impact on cancer symptoms, such as appetite loss, inflammation and even the process of tumour cell death, known as apoptosis.
The results were remarkable, particularly when it came to cannabis’s capacity to alleviate symptoms like nausea and appetite loss. Cannabis’s ability to specifically target cancer cells, with data indicating it may impede their spread and cause cell death, was the study’s most noteworthy finding.
The research has drawn both support and criticism, despite considerable skepticism over cannabis’ potential as a cancer treatment, particularly in light of its associations with drug use disorders.
The veracity of these findings was questioned by Donald Abrams, an oncologist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco.
Abrams, who has had extensive experience treating cancer patients in San Francisco, noted the therapeutic value of cannabis in managing cancer symptoms, including pain, nausea, and anxiety. But he expressed doubt about cannabis’s ability to cure cancer, stating, “If cannabis cures cancer, I have not been able to appreciate that,” he told Guardian
Castle, though, is optimistic, citing both the pre-clinical evidence and encouraging patient outcomes as reasons to believe in cannabis’s cancer-fighting potential.
He hopes that this meta-analysis will prompt the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reconsider the federal classification of cannabis, thereby removing the current research restrictions.
