Joseph Friedman of CannaRPh Consultants and the CRx Magazine Advisory Board interviewed Eloise Theisen and Joe Jeffries on the potential of cannabis for cancer pain and the conundrum therein. Theisen is a faculty member at Pacific College of Health and Science’s medical cannabis program and president of the American Cannabis Nurses Association; Jeffries is currently Director of Pharmacy at FarmaceuticalRx, a medical cannabis dispensary in Ohio. The Pharmacy Podcast Network is the number one healthcare podcast dedicated to the business of pharmacy, publishing the most influential voices in the industry.
According to Theisen, the body of research on cannabis for the treatment of chronic pain is strong, but much of the evidence so far is in connection with neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries, with less for cancer pain–largely because not many studies have yet been completed. Of those that have, small sample sizes and issues with study design render the evidence fragmentary and inconclusive. “We have animal studies and some clinical human studies,” says Theisen, but there’s “a lack of randomized controlled trials, which are considered to be the gold standard.” The data so far is promising, but more studies on this must be completed to ensure that patients get the right care.