#61 How Cannabis Can Be Effective for Cancer Pain

LET'S TALK PLANT MEDICINE: Cannabis, Psychedelics & Pharmaceutics with Dr. O

"Dr. Worcester On The Role Of Big Pharma In Cannabis Research & Education For Cancer Pain Management"

Summary/Abstract

Dr. Brooke Worster is the Chief Medical Advisor at Ethios and a cancer pain specialist. She is also a cannabis researcher at Thomas Jefferson University in Pennsylvania. On the show, she discussed her background in pain management and how she got interested in cannabis research. She explained how cannabis is often recommended to her patients, either by their family members, caregivers, or friends. However, the medical community doesn't pay much attention to the positive side of cannabis. She is working to change that and to provide more resources to people interested in cannabis.

Dr. Jeffrey Gendelman discussed his experience with medical cannabis, which began when he felt like he had to respond to patients' questions with I don't know as he had not done much research on the subject. However, when the Pennsylvania legislature passed legislation allowing academic medical centers to partner with vertically integrated growth, production, and dispensing companies, he decided to take the initiative and learn more.

Dr. Gendelman noted the disconnect between patients and providers when it comes to cannabis; patients often feel uncomfortable bringing it up and providers rarely initiate the dialogue due to a lack of knowledge. He believes it's important for doctors, particularly oncologists, to learn how to talk to their patients about cannabis in order to bridge this gap.

The conversation is about how healthcare professionals are not engaging with cannabis as a treatment option. The speaker notes that only a quarter of 10,000 cancer patients feel comfortable talking to their physicians about cannabis. The stigma and hysteria surrounding cannabis have made some patient groups reluctant to even bring up the topic with their physician. The speaker wonders why the medical community has not embraced the potential of cannabis as a therapy, given its long history of use in medicine. He argues that access to and use of cannabis is increasing, and medical professionals must pay attention to it. He also notes that research into the potential of cannabis as a therapy has been limited due to restrictions on its use. The speaker suggests healthcare professionals must become more educated about cannabis and its potential therapeutic uses.

There is not enough education and training available for healthcare professionals to bridge the gap in knowledge around cannabis. This lack of accessible education means that professionals have to do their own research and digging to gain knowledge. It is important to talk to patients and hear their experiences, although it is not the same as a randomized clinical trial. To gain more knowledge and bridge the gap, healthcare professionals should make some noise about the educational gap and try to get more educational outreach and efforts happening.

Timestamps

0:00:06

Conversation with Dr. Brooke Worster, Chief Medical Advisor at Ethios and Cancer Pain Specialist

0:03:01

Exploring the Disconnect between Patients and Providers on Cannabis Use

0:05:30

Exploring the Disconnect Between Clinicians and Cannabis Use in Cancer Patients

0:10:48

Discussion on Accessible Education for Healthcare Professionals on Cannabis Use

0:13:10

Heading: Dr. Worcesters Discusses the Legalization of Medical Cannabis and Dispels the Myth of Losing Licenses

0:16:02

Heading: Discussion on the Role of Big Pharma in Cancer Pain Management with Dr. Worcester

0:20:23

Heading: The Power of Plant-Based Medicines in Treating Cancer Pain and Nausea

0:22:35

Discussion on the Need for Standardized Cannabis Labeling Systems

0:26:13

Conversation on Standardizing Cannabis Information for Patients

0:28:15

Heading: Exploring Cannabis Use in Healthcare: A Conversation with Dr. Worcester

0:30:17

Interview with Dr. Lola Wasa: Exploring the Benefits of Cannabis Medicine

Highlights

Finally, Dr. Worcester, I have another of your quote. You said, the patient knows this stuff. They are reading it online and hearing from friends, but they are also getting a lot of disinformation and bad advice from this. We as a medical community need to step up, embrace these resources that patients are using, whether they are in a legal state, use or not, and provide some guidance. What else can we do in the community, especially in the healthcare space, to make sure patients are getting evidence-based data?

I think it would go a long way if we even kind of got our act together enough to have a standardized labeling system for cannabis for products. Right. Because the way that they're labeled is all different from state to state and how it's kind of shown concentration versus percentage of various cannabinoids versus ratios. That's confusing to patients. So I think one thing that I would say could be changed that would kind of a little bit come from the dispensary and the legislative side that wouldn't require a ton of work, but would just be to say kind of like we do for other nutraceuticals or over the counter products is like you have to have certain labeling standards. The way that you say what's in it is the same.

We can make you make sense of what doesn't make sense folks. Dr. Worcester, Dr. O can help you make sense, of what doesn't make sense. Now let's go back to our patient. Dr. Worcester, in one of your call recently, you said many patients are simply guessing and doing their best at both adult use and even for medical purposes. They go to the Dispensaries or go online and just try to figure it out. He said the evidence is strong that cannabis is effective for cancer pain. It's also very likely effective for nausea, cancer-related nausea, and vomiting, which is what we are part of what we are using dronabinol for.

And I totally agree with you that what is there to lose? They have more to gain because even right now when we talk about chronic conditions like cancer, it's like all hands on deck. Back in the day we never used to use lidocaine patches to manage cancer pain. Now we are able to dispense the patches for neuropathic pain, and cancer-related neuropathic pain for our patients. So it's all hands on deck. Pain is pain. Pain is not going to be okay. It's just narcissistic pain.

And I do tell people, you are the expert when it comes to cancer pain management. During my rotation, I did do some cancer rotation. I do tell patients, cancer patients in particular, when you see them going through pain, some of them, you don't even know the level of pain they're going through. Somebody can be looking at you off-screen, and their pain is ten because they've developed a system to cope with pain management in such a way that acute pain might not be the same. I might just cut my finger and start screaming the whole place down whereby somebody sitting by me is going through a critical condition like cancer. What is the part of the big farmer? I know that Big Pharma probably just doesn't even want anything to be approved, considering the level of money that is being generated from that space.