4.1 Article

Cancer Patients' Experiences with and Perspectives on the Medicinal Cannabis High

Journal

JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE MEDICINE
Volume 25, Issue 9, Pages 1418-1421

Publisher

MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC
DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2022.0119

Keywords

cancer; cannabis; complementary and alternative medicine; marijuana; oncology; symptom management

Funding

  1. Hans and Mavis Lopater Foundation

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Patients with cancer use medicinal cannabis for symptom management and cancer-directed therapy. The high experienced from medicinal cannabis is seen as a barrier to its use and patients try to avoid prolonged periods of being high.
Background: Patients with cancer employ medicinal cannabis for poly-symptom management and as cancer-directed therapy. Little is known about their perspectives on the medicinal cannabis high.Methods: Qualitative interviews across eight states with medicinal cannabis users with physician-verified cancer diagnoses (n = 24).Results: Every participant referenced and 15 spoke in depth about the medicinal cannabis high. Antitheticals characterized it: sleepiness versus heightened attention; calm versus agitation. The intensity of the high served as a proxy metric by which participant's judged medicinal cannabis' cancer-directed therapy and symptom management efficacies. Overall, however, study participants viewed the high as a barrier to medicinal cannabis use and worked to avoid experiencing for prolonged periods.Conclusions: The high is central to the manner with which patients with cancer experience medicinal cannabis. Clinicians should be aware that patients may struggle to fine-tune medicinal cannabis dosing in the setting of the high, and this challenge should be included in clinical discussions regarding oncological medicinal cannabis use.

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