Medical marijuana is “commonly” used to treat symptoms of cancer such as pain, nausea, anxiety, depression, poor appetite and sleep disturbance, according to a new study—and 80 percent of patients report that it provides relief and improved quality of life.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky, surveyed 237 adults receiving radiation therapy for cancer at either an urban or a rural oncology practice in Kentucky, which is described in the paper as “a unique geographical area with high endemic use of narcotics.”
About half of the patients (51 percent) reported they had used marijuana at least once in their lifetimes, with the researchers saying that “self-administration of unprescribed medicinal cannabis use was common across demographic groups and was primarily directed toward symptom management.”
“Overall, most patients in our study reported improvement in both symptoms and quality of life metrics after self-prescribed medicinal cannabis use post-cancer diagnosis.”
“All recent self-prescribed medicinal cannabis users identified symptoms precipitating cannabis use post-cancer diagnosis including nausea, fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety, stress, depression, poor appetite, pleasure seeking (high), weight loss, confusion, and desire to combat their malignancy,” the study, which was supported by the National Cancer Institute and published in the journal
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