For me, I lost just over 1/3 of my body weight, became a hobbling skeleton and so weak and malnourished due to not being able to keep anything down at all, despite being pumped full of anti-nausea medications, from drips, injections and tablets (which could not even keep down), that my doctor suggested I start smoking joints, just to be able to keep small amounts of food and water down. It worked okay for me, and it stemmed the weightloss enough for them to continue the treatments.
Here in the USA, marijuana is commonly used as an appetite stimulant for chemotherapy patients. Chemotherapy typically causes terrible nausea, making it impossible for the patient to get adequate nutrition.
I first learned about this around 25 years ago. The teenage son of my friends had cancer--after all these years I don't even remember what kind. He looked almost literally like a skeleton--or perhaps an Auschwitz refugee.
Within two weeks of beginning cannabis therapy, he was not only eating normally, but happily taking extra food, which slowly brought his body weight back to a reasonable level. Doctors didn't have access to marijuana in those days, but all of his neighbors--and even the local police--knew what was going on and kept it quiet as his parents turned their back yard into a cannabis garden.
I haven't seen these folks for 30 years, but the last time I did see them, their son had been cancer-free for about five years.
I used cannabis during my chemo, but it was not to treat the cancer. It was to reduce nausea and pain. Mostly the nausea, as I was unable to keep anything down during the rounds. Not even water. I know it is used to help treat the side effects of the cancer and its treatments. Quite effectively for many.
Even now, 30 years later, cannabis is generally used primarily as an appetite stimulant, although scientists are investigating other possible uses.
I have heard vague rumours about it curing cancer. Look, I would be wary about such claims.
And well you should. It's a godsend for chemotherapy patients, but that's about as far as it goes. It clearly has no effect on the cancer itself.
Is it helpful in treating cancer patients? Yes, for many, it actually treated the nausea and skin issues quite well, allowing us to keep food and water down long enough and helped with pain as well. But that is only something a cancer patient should endeavour to try, with their doctor's recommendations and advice.
Indeed. It's not 1985 anymore, and any cancer specialist today knows all of the benefits of cannabis, as well as its limitations.
It has not been tested to the point where it can be classified as a cure.
And I doubt that it ever will be. Its (almost) exclusive effect on cancer patients is to counteract the negative effects of chemotherapy.
I've been following the news on the connection between cannabis and chemotherapy for decades. And I must, sadly, report that return of appetite is still, apparently, its only use. Fortunately, that's a rather important use, which can save a lot of lives.