Medical Marijuana and Chemotherapy

Marijuana for Chemotherapy Side Effects

Chemotherapy is a drug therapy using chemical agents to kill cancer cells (and healthy cells). Side effects from chemotherapy include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and cachexia (wasting condition).

According to Melissa Etheridge, singer/songwriter who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 (discussing marijuana and chemotherapy in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper), “It [pain of chemotherapy] was just a general pain of your body dying, of all your cells dying.”

Instead of wanting to take medications to treat the side effects, Melissa Etheridge opted to use marijuana. Basically, her complaint was that one drug would cause a side effect requiring to take another drug to treat that side effect and so on.

Melissa Etheridge reports it would work instantly for her in relieving nausea and pain (without getting a high). She would feel normal and be able to get up in the morning to a better day. She does not believe it to be addictive.

Forms of Medical Marijuana

The natural form of marijuana is normally smoked like cigarettes. Although there are concerns about smoke entering the lungs, there are a couple of benefits: THC (tetrahydrocannabinol - one compound in marijuana that relieves chemotherapy symptoms) is absorbed more quickly when inhaled than ingested and it can be taken when nausea and vomiting are severe (unlike pills that can’t be held down).

The synthetic form comes in a pill. Marinol (dronabinol) and Cesamet (nabilone - an analog of dronabinol) are synthetic cannabinoids (mimicking THC) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These drugs do not contain all of the other “helpful” cannabinoids that natural marijuana has and they can be quite costly (about $200-800 per month). Natural marijuana, even at its black market value, is normally a lot less costly.

Melissa Etheridge would use natural marijuana but she would often mix it into butter and spread it on food or run it through a vaporizer instead of smoking it.

Vaporization can deliver the therapeutic doses of marijuana while reducing the intake of pyrolytic smoke compounds. It suppresses respiratory toxins by heating marijuana enough to form cannabinoid vapors (about 180-190° C) but below the point where noxious smoke and toxins (like carcinogenic hydrocarbons) are produced (about 230° C).

Studies

Multiple studies have been done comparing natural marijuana, synthetic THC, and drugs like ondansetron (an antiemetic). Some results are positive for natural marijuana and synthetic THC while others show no benefits.

Availability

Synthetic forms are available by prescription; however, many health care providers are hesitant to prescribe them. Although the federal government can still prosecute patients using natural marijuana for medical reasons (even in the few states that allow it), many patients will risk arrest and prosecution to get its benefits.

Marijuana and Chemotherapy (Alternative Treatment)

Besides treating side effects of chemotherapy, marijuana may also stop breast cancer from spreading to other parts of the body according to a 2007 study. It is believed that cannabidiol (a cannabinoid found in marijuana) blocks the activity of Id-1, a gene that is believed to cause the spread of cancer cells from the tumor site.

Sources Used

National Cancer Institute: Marijuana Use in Supportive Care for Cancer Patients - https://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Support/marijuana

CNN.com: Melissa Etheridge: Medical marijuana should be legal - https://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/16/ac360.etheridge/index.html

NORML: Marinol vs. Natural Cannabis - https://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6635

Clinical Studies and Case Reports - https://www.cannabis-med.org/studies/study.php

McAllister SD, Christian RT, Horowitz MP, Garcia A, Desprez PY (November 2007). “Cannabidiol as a novel inhibitor of Id-1 gene expression in aggressive breast cancer cells”. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 6 (11): 2921–7.

Photo Credit

Image of medical marijuana in the public domain.

Disclaimer

Please read this disclaimer regarding the information contained within this article.