Can Medical Cannabis Help Fight Cancer?
- Kirstie Ganobsik
- May 25
- 2 min read
A 2025 Deep Dive Looks Promising
In April 2025, researchers at the Whole Health Oncology Institute (WHOI) and Chopra Foundation published the largest-ever study on cannabis for cancer treatment. The findings?
Better than expected
WHOI research director Ryan Castle told the Guardian that at best, the research team thought about 55% of the over 10,000 studies analyzed would show cannabis improved cancer outcomes.
The real numbers? More than 70% of studies supported cannabis’ potential as a cancer therapy. According to the study's press release, that’s more support than many FDA-approved medications require.
Improving Cancer Treatment Side Effects
Side effects from cancer treatments like chemotherapy — including pain, nausea, vomiting, and appetite loss — improved the most consistently in the studies. Cannabis also showed strong support in assisting with cancer-related inflammation.
Because of its documented role in reducing these side effects, many state medical cannabis programs now allow people who are undergoing cancer treatments to receive medical marijuana cards.
Fighting Cancer Cells
A more surprising result of the study was that medical cannabis may be able to help fight cancer cells directly. Its anti-cancer abilities included helping to stop cancer tumor growth, promoting cancer cell death, and decreasing inflammation.
These studies were mostly limited to observational and preclinical trials, with few clinical trials included. Scientists are still exploring cannabis’ potential as a cancer-fighting therapy.
The Next Steps
Doctors know that not all cancers respond the same way to treatment. That’s why the study’s authors say the next stage of cannabis research should focus on finding the ratio of cannabis ingredients (like THC to CBD) that are the most effective for each type of cancer. This can help move medical cannabis forward from a promising therapy to a potentially standard cancer treatment.
Read the full study in the Frontiers in Oncology Journal.
The issues most of the time is that they don't want to make it for general use due do to regulations.