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June 17, 2025
Patients with musculoskeletal pain experience symptomatic improvements and few side effects following the sustained use of medical cannabis, according to newly data published in the scientific journal Cureus . Investigators affiliated with the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia assessed the safety and efficacy of long-term cannabis use in a cohort of 129 patients suffering from musculoskeletal pain. Study participants were registered in Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis access program and were assessed for at least one year. Over three-quarters of study subjects reported using at least one type of cannabis product daily, with most (64 percent) choosing to use topical formulations. Consistent with prior studies, the majority (93 percent) of pain patients said that cannabis improved their primary symptoms. Cognitive and motor effects were minimal for most users, with 72 percent reporting “no impact” on their thinking, coordination, or motor functions. Some 40 percent of study participants acknowledged reducing their use of traditional analgesics, including opioids, following medical cannabis initiation – a finding that is also consistent with other studies. Source

June 16, 2025
Cannabinoids in medical marijuana can both increase the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs and also minimize the often uncomfortable side-effects of conventional cancer treatment, according to a new scientific review of available evidence. The 23-page paper, published online this month in the journal Pharmacology & Therapeutics, assesses a range of clinical and preclinical findings that “mainly relate to combination treatments for glioblastoma, hematological malignancies and breast cancer, but also for other cancer types. To summarize, the data available to date raise the prospect that cannabinoids may increase the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents while reducing their side effects.” Overall, while the interactions between cannabinoids and chemotherapeutics “constitute a complex subject with many yet unknown variables,” the study says, there are “two important therapy-relevant aspects of the interaction between cannabinoids and chemotherapeutic agents that could potentially benefit cancer patients: firstly, the systemic potentiation of chemotherapeutics by cannabinoids, primarily leading to an extension of life by overcoming therapy resistance and secondly, the reduction of chemotherapy-induced side effects.” “In addition to this well-known antiemetic effect of cannabinoids,” the report adds, “an increasing number of preclinical studies discussed in this review have shown in recent years that cannabinoids can also have a positive effect on other side effects of chemotherapy, such as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), nephrotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, cystitis and mucositis.” While the report deals in less depth with other cancer-related symptoms, it notes that cannabinoids are also administered to relieve cancer-related chronic pain. Source