Opinion: Do Not Believe the Hype

Marijuana ointments as cancer treatments remain a distant prospect.

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ISTOCK, CREATIVE-FAMILYChronic pain caused by cancer treatments or tumor cells growing in bone can be severe and debilitating. The lack of effective pain relief by prescription painkillers is leading many cancer patients to try alternative medicine, notably, marijuana. But despite the plant’s ever-expanding popularity, and a growing body of evidence to suggest it can help ease cancer-related symptoms, novelty products such as marijuana creams and oils have yet to demonstrate their worth.

For a number of years, cancer patients have turned to marijuana to treat nausea and vomiting caused by cancer treatments or to alleviate anxiety caused by the disease. Along with the traditional mode of smoking marijuana, the online sale and marketing of marijuana ointments such as creams and oils as smoke-free alternatives are on the rise, fueled by easy access to online drug stores in social media platforms.

Many cancer sufferers prefer using these topical preparations of marijuana to smoking. “Marijuana oil is a lesser of two evils,” a mother of a young cancer sufferer I met at a cancer meeting in 2017 told me. Some patients believe that applying these ointments directly on the tumor site is unlikely to cause the psychiatric problems seen ...

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  • Aymen I. Idris

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