Dr. Mitchell on Clinical Trials Exploring Medical Marijuana for Patients With Cancer

Jerry W. Mitchell, MD, oncologist, Zangmeister Cancer Center, discusses clinical trials exploring medical marijuana for patients with cancer.

A recent small-scale trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at seizures in patients with Dravet syndrome, or severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy, which demonstrated a reduction in the seizure rate with the use of medical marijuana.

Both the Dravet syndrome and chronic pain trials have had some problems, Mitchell explains. However, medical marijuana seems to have a generally positive effect on chronic pain, says Mitchell.

There were approximately 62,000 opioid-related deaths in the United States in 2016, so Mitchell believes it is important to have this tool that has reportedly never resulted in an overdose death to help ease pain for patients with cancer.