One of the most well-known purported uses for medical marijuana is to alleviate symptoms related to cancer treatment, and a new study finds that use of the drug among cancer patients is not uncommon. In the study, which included more than 900 cancer patients in Seattle, nearly one-quarter reported using medical marijuana in the past year.
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The researchers found that 24 percent of the patients in the study were “active users,” meaning that they had used marijuana in the past year for cancer-related symptoms, and 21 percent reported using the drug in the past month. These rates are more than double those reported in national surveys of any type of marijuana user, the researchers said. […] Three-quarters of the active users said they used the drug to help with physical symptoms, including pain and nausea, and two-thirds reported that they used marijuana to help with psychiatric symptoms, including stress and sleep problems.
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And though 74 percent of the people in the study said that they would like information on medical marijuana from their cancer teams, less than 15 percent actually received information from their health care providers. Instead, most people sought out information from friends, family members, media sources or other cancer patients, the researchers found.
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