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Palliative Care and Cannabis
- Palliative care focuses on quality of life in serious illness — cancer, heart failure, COPD
- Pain, nausea, anorexia, anxiety, and insomnia are the most common palliative symptoms
- Nabilone (synthetic cannabinoid) is available on NHS for chemotherapy-induced nausea
- Full plant medical cannabis offers additional options across the full palliative symptom burden
Medical cannabis has an important role in palliative symptom management, particularly for patients with symptoms inadequately controlled by conventional means.
Symptoms Responsive to Cannabis
- Cancer pain — particularly neuropathic and bone pain — responds to cannabinoids
- THC stimulates appetite via CB1 receptors in the hypothalamus — relevant for cancer cachexia
- Anxiety and existential distress: CBD-dominant products or low-dose THC may help
- Insomnia: evening cannabis dosing can significantly improve sleep quality in terminal illness
The breadth of palliative symptoms that may respond to cannabinoid therapy makes medical cannabis particularly useful where multiple symptoms coexist.
