The role of medical cannabis in the cancer-related pain treatment

Introduction: Pain is among others, one of the most common symptoms in patients facing malignancies. The pain may have a major negative impact on their quality of everyday life. Currently, the gold standard in the treatment of cancer-related pain suggested by WHO are the opioids. However, besides their multiple side effects, there is a small but significant number of patients that are not relief from pain using these drugs. Thus, there is a need of incorporating different drugs in the treatment of the cancer-related pain. Materials and Methods: The aim of this review is to examine the potential of using medical cannabis in the treatment of pain caused by cancer, as long as it’s side and adverse effects. Results: Detailed research was conducted via the PubMed database using the keywords: “medical”, “cannabis”, “cancer” and “pain” Conclusion: Current evidence for the use of cannabis and cannabinoids to relief cancer pain is weak, because of the existence of multiple adverse effects that cannot be overviewed. However, there is some evidence that indicate that medical cannabis could potentially be beneficially used as an adjunct to the already applying therapy. Further research needs to be done in this field of medicine in order to incorporate medical cannabis in guidelines for cancer pain management.