I sometimes hear medical experts say that there’s little or no clinical research going on into the use of cannabis and cancer treatment. It’s true that there needs to be more, but there are some excellent, evidence-driven[*] research programs being conducted and the findings show often astounding and exciting results. Here is an example of that.
“Dr. Cristina Sanchez outlines the pathology and molecular mechanics of cancer and how cannabinoids not only mitigate symptoms and side-effects, but also hinder and prevent the generation and progression of various types of cancerous cells and tumors, documented in clinical studies.”
Cannabis and Cancer, a 40 minute presentation detailing research results of cannabinoids used to treat cancer cells, from isolated cells in labs through to human trials.
Quote: “The Midwest Cannabis Education Organization understands the crucial need for expanded professional and public education on medical cannabis. MCE strives to provide high-level medical cannabis education with leading international experts and researchers. We educate and support healthcare professionals and patients, benefit awareness, and industry collaboration through events, information and access to reliable resources.”
You’ll need to sign up to be able to watch the videos on this site, but it’s free. If you’re interested in serious science-based research in this area… do it now.
* By ‘evidence-driven’ I mean properly conducted lab and trials-based research. That’s not quite the same as ‘Evidence-Based Medicine’ or EBM (with initial caps), a specific philosophical approach to evaluating medical research that can lead, through imperfect application of the concept, to studies being ignored because of selective reporting and publication bias, and a tendency to conflate ‘no evidence of effect’ with ‘evidence of no effect.’ EDM is important and useful, but as a whole-cloth approach to evaluation it has flaws that should not be ignored. When cannabis is more widely decriminalized around the world the number of studies will rise and the EDM approach will likely be more accommodating to this area. It’s a bit of a rabbit hole topic, but if you’re interested in delving into this area of discussion here are some links:
- O’Shaughnessy’s Online: “Evidence-Based Medicine vs. Medical Cannabis” (late 2018)
- Elsevier, The European Journal of Internal Medicine: “Medicinal cannabis is safe and effective – it’s time to reboot research” (March 2018)
- The BMJ: “Evidence Based Medicine: a movement in crisis?” (June 2014)
- Health Affairs: “The Promises And Pitfalls Of Evidence-Based Medicine” (Jan 20045
- The BMJ: “Does Evidence Based Medicine adversely affect clinical judgement?” (July 2018)
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