Researchers this week published what they described as the “largest meta-analysis ever conducted on medical cannabis and its effects on cancer-related symptoms”, finding “overwhelming scientific consensus” on marijuana’s therapeutic effects.
The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Oncology, analyzed data from 10,641 peer-reviewed studies—what authors say is more than ten times the number in the next-largest review on the topic. Results “indicate a strong and growing consensus within the scientific community regarding the therapeutic benefits of cannabis,” it says, “particularly in the context of cancer.”
The meta-analysis “showed that for every one study that showed cannabis was ineffective, there were three that showed it worked,” the Whole Health Oncology Institute said in a press release. “That 3:1 ratio—especially in a field as rigorous as biomedical research—isn’t just unusual, it’s extraordinary.”
While the analysis looked at a wide-range of cancer-related data, the four-person research team—from the Hawaii-based Whole Health Oncology Institute and The Chopra Foundation in New York—highlighted some key findings in their press release. For example, the analysis indicated that cannabis reduced the proliferation of cancer cells, limited the spread of cancer by inhibiting metastasis and increased the natural death of cancer cells. It also noted what the release describes as cannabis’s “profound anti-inflammatory effect, a critical factor since inflammation is linked to over 80% of the world’s most debilitating chronic conditions.”
