Cancer patients treat cannabis with or without clinical trials

Every year there is a heap of scientific research supporting the use of cannabis to treat cancer. However, clinical evidence has yet to prove that cannabinoids, terpenes or cannabis treat cancer. With or without clinical trials, however, cancer patients treated with cannabis in Canada and the Netherlands remain optimistic. (1, 2)

Prior to legalization in Canada, an observational study documented high rates of cannabis use among Canadian cancer patients. (1) But despite Canada’s four years of research, clinical trials proving cannabis to be an effective cancer treatment are still lacking. Subsequently, a Dutch study confirmed the findings in a paper published this month in the Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology. (2)

Cancer and cannabis use in the Netherlands

Patients were almost three times more likely to use cannabis to treat physical symptoms than mental health problems caused by cancer. Not far behind the physical symptoms was the anti-cancer effects of cannabis. However, more than half of consumers have self-treated in hopes of treating cancer and not just the symptoms associated with it.

In terms of mental health, cancer patients in Holland and Canada self-medicate cannabis to treat depression, anxiety and stress. While insomnia and general aches and pains were the most common physical symptoms cancer patients treated with cannabis. Rarely, cancer patients treated nerve pain, fatigue, as well as appetite and nausea with cannabis.

In Holland, cancer patients reported using cannabidiol (CBD) more often than a mixture of CBD and THC. The use of THC-dominant products and strains among cancer patients was even less common in the survey.

Legal cannabis in Canadian cancer patients

Modern Canadian doctors have been prescribing cannabis to cancer patients to treat nausea and pain for almost a decade. Before legalization, 43% of cancer patients in June 2018 had previously used cannabis. But only 18% of the nearly 2,000 participants have used cannabis in the past six months. And in the Canadian survey, 36% of the last 356 cancer patients who used cannabis were new users.

The Dutch observational study served as a follow-up to a study conducted in Canada. Dutch researchers found that cannabis was legal for medical patients in Canada but was only decriminalized in the Netherlands. This led to expectations for drastically different rates of cannabis use. In contrast, there was little difference between consumers in the two countries. Are researchers in the Netherlands unfamiliar with other pernicious loopholes unfairly guarding Canada’s legal medical market?

Remember that a single participant in the Dutch study was prescribed medicinal cannabis by a doctor. This is not a surprise since doctors and doctors who treat cancer patients are usually ignorant on the subject. Should cannabis therefore be analyzed as a cancer treatment in clinical trials to facilitate physician access?

Let us know if you or someone you know has used cannabis to treat cancer symptoms. Do you think standardized extraction methods should be published to help clinicians?

Sources

1. Martell K, Fairchild A, LeGerrier B, et al. Rates of cannabis use in cancer patients. Curr Oncol. 2018;25(3):219-225. doi:10.3747/co.25.3983
2. Oelen Y, Revenberg S, de Vos-Geelen J, et al. Cannabinoid use in cancer patients receiving systemic cancer treatment in the Netherlands [published online ahead of print, 2022 Jul 2]. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2022;10.1007/s00432-022-04085-z. doi:10.1007/s00432-022-04085-z