A Canadian study shows that therapeutic cannabis provides a significant reduction in pain caused by various cancers.
Geraldine Zamansky of Health magazine on France 5, today deciphers an additional study on the benefits of therapeutic cannabis against cancer-related pain.
franceinfo: Canadian patients were followed for a year?
Géraldine Zamansky : “I can live with it, and sometimes forget about it.” This is what the patients of this study on therapeutic cannabis could finally say, after having suffered extreme pain. An already remarkable benefit for Dr. Antonio Vigano who coordinated this Canadian study. Because this specialist in palliative care at the McGill University Health Center in Montreal, has been trying for years to find better solutions for these patients.
Their cancer causes pain that is all the more difficult to relieve, as it is caused by several mechanisms. Some are directly linked to the presence of a bone metastasis, others to nerve damage, or even following an operation.
And this study was therefore able to measure the effect of therapeutic cannabis on these pains if
difficult to relieve?
Absolutely. Regardless of the intensity of the initial pain, a significant improvement was noted in the first 3 months, and maintained during the year of follow-up. Dr. Vigano told me that it sometimes took time to find the right product and the right dosage.
In this study, the equal combination of CBD and THC, the two active ingredients derived from cannabis, worked best. A real source of hope for a third of cancer patients, poorly relieved by “classic” treatments of the morphine family, anti-inflammatories or anti-depressants, which sometimes have serious side effects such as constipation important or problems with concentration and memory.
Not as many nasty side effects with the medical cannabis?
They were mostly mild, with drowsiness and fatigue on top. And in addition, the patients were almost all able to reduce their consumption of other drugs, such as “morphinics”. This has limited the negative impact. So of course, Dr. Vigano insists on the need for other studies on a larger scale.
But thanks to the results of this very rare study, carried out “in real life”, with more than 300 patients, he thinks that therapeutic cannabis can constitute a complementary weapon for these patients who are so painful. In France, it’s a bit of an unknown, the experimentation with therapeutic cannabis has been extended for a year until March 2024.
To read the study (site in English)
