Unveiling the Healing Power of Cannabis for Cancer

Medicinal Cannabis Can Effectively Reduce Cancer Pain

Medicinal cannabis can relieve cancer pain and reduce the need for opioids and other medications, a new study suggests.

In addition, products with a balance of the active compounds delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) — versus those dominant in either one — were more effective, the results showed.

Cannabis use improves pain symptoms
PainTrusted Source is a common symptom among people with cancer. It can be caused by cancer, cancer treatments or other factors.

To help control a person’s pain, a doctor may prescribe acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioids or other drugs.

Opioids are used for controlling more severe pain, but they have a number of side effects, such as nausea, drowsiness and constipation.

Even with the availability of opioid medications, researchTrusted Source shows that about one in four people with cancer-related pain don’t receive adequate treatment for the intensity of their pain.

As a result, many people with cancer seek out alternative ways to control their pain, including cannabis.

Study finds THC and CBD products help relieve cancer pain
To better understand if medicinal cannabis can safely and effectively relieve cancer pain, researchers studied the treatment responses of 358 adults with cancer over a period of 3.5 years.

The average age of the patients was 58, and over half were female. The most common cancer diagnoses were genitourinary, breast, colorectal, lung and blood-related.

Over 72% of patients reported having pain symptoms, with a small number of people reporting nausea, anxiety, insomnia or other symptoms.

Patients were authorized a range of cannabis products — 25% used THC-dominant products, 38% used THC:CBD-balanced products and 17% used CBD-dominant products. Over half of patients took the product by mouth.

Patients’ pain symptoms decreased over the year-long follow-up, researchers found. This included worst and average pain intensity, overall pain severity and a measure of how much the pain interfered with daily life.

How CBD pain relief can improve cognition

There could also be indirect effects. They found that people whose pain decreased more had greater improvements in their cognition.

“It wasn’t a huge effect, but it was reliable,” Bryan said, “so it suggests that part of the reason people feel like they can think more clearly is because they’re in less pain.”

They also found that people who took products with higher levels of CBD reported larger improvements in pain intensity and sleep quality.