Medical Oncologists' Views on the Utility of Medical Marijuana Across the Cancer Trajectory

Medical marijuana (MM) is nonpharmaceutical, herbal (typically unrefined) cannabis that health care providers recommend therapeutically in line with state law. Federally illegal, it is legal on a state level in 33 states.1 Unlike most illnesses, cancer is a qualifying condition for MM in almost every state law.1 Although cancer patients frequently use cannabis to treat symptoms—or even cancer itself—few empiric studies have examined the efficacy of MM in oncology.2 In 1979, Chang et al. randomized 15 patients to receive unrefined cannabis versus placebo to treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.