Cannabis shows antiemetic potential

Most individuals using marijuana for treating nausea are likely to experience relief within a relative short duration of time, although the level of antiemetic effect is influenced by the characteristics of the products consumed, a study has found.

The study measured the real-time effects of common and commercially available cannabis-based products using the Realeaf mobile application. A total of 886 people completed 2,220 cannabis self-administration sessions intended to treat nausea. The participants had to record the characteristics of cannabis products and baseline symptom intensity levels before tracking real-time changes in the intensity of their nausea.

The vast majority (96.4 percent) of the participants reported relief of symptom by hour 1 after consumption. There was an average symptom intensity reduction of −3.85 points on a 0 to 10 visual analogue scale (p<0.001). Symptom relief started occurring at 5 minutes, with the magnitude increasing with time.

Among the products used, flower and concentrates were equally effective and yielded the strongest results. Those labelled as Cannabis indica were inferior to those labelled as Cannabis sativa or hybrid. Joints, meanwhile, provided greater symptom relief than pipes or vaporizers.

In sessions using flower, higher tetrahydrocannabinol and lower cannabidiol were generally associated with greater symptom relief (eg, within 5 minutes).

Additional studies are needed and should examine longer term symptom relief (nausea-free intervals and dosing frequency) and the risks of consumption of medical cannabis (ie, among high-risk populations, such as pregnant women and children). It is also important to assess potential interactions between cannabis, conventional antiemetics, other medications, food, tobacco, alcohol, and street drugs among specific patient populations.