According to new research conducted in Minnesota to analyze whether medical marijuana offers health benefits, symptoms of pain and nausea significantly improved in patients with cancer who took cannabis.
The study analyzed 11,120 patients who received cannabis via the medical marijuana program. On Monday, researchers reported that they have noticed remarkable improvements in all the eight symptoms that they tracked.
Dr. Dylan Zylla, a study author from the Oncology Research Center at HealthPartners/Park Nicollet, said, “Struggles with sleeping and difficulties with depression didn’t go away, but patients’ self-reported symptom scores dropped from the severe to the moderate range. For patients, that’s a huge quality of life improvement.”
The study was conducted jointly with the Minnesota Department of Health. The patients were required to provide as conditions of participating in Minnesota’s four-year-old medical cannabis program.
Among all the participants, 743 cancer patients received cannabis supplies for four months and then returned for refills. The total number of patients reporting maximum pain scores of 10 reduced to less than 10 percent in the same period, which was nearly 25 percent before.
Dr. Zylla said the results are pretty promising, especially as patients often look for opioid painkillers as alternatives. Apart from addiction concerns, the author noted that many studies have found that opioids might promote the growth of certain cancers.
The study author also found that the body metabolizes cannabis the same way as it does for cytotoxic agents. Dr. Zylla said more research is needed to make sure marijuana is not disrupting the efficacy of chemotherapy and affecting survival rates.
Minnesota is one of 33 states to permit medical marijuana, but the state’s approach is unique when it comes to the information required from patients for a study.
Currently, 15,000 people in Minnesota have certification from physicians to receive medical marijuana prescription for treating 14 qualifying conditions. Approximately 9 percent of those patients have cancer, which is considered the fourth most qualifying condition that causes uncontrolled pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and severe muscles spasms.
Dr. Susan Anderson, the study co-author and a state health research scientist, said, “No other state medical cannabis program collects as much information on patients. It’s gratifying to see the reported benefits and the relatively small degree of adverse side effects experienced by cancer patients.”
The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Oncology Practice. The state medical marijuana program permits products that contain cannabis compounds such as CBD and THC. It is unclear which compound provides medical benefits.
