Marijuana for Drug-Induced Nausea and Vomiting

Abstract

In 1975 investigators at the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in Boston became intrigued by reports from some young patients who said that when they were "high" from smoking "pot," they experienced less or none of the severe nausea and vomiting that usually accompanied their cancer chemotherapy treatments. The investigators subsequently developed a protocol to test the antiemetic effects of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal mood-altering agent in marijuana. Of the patients receiving THC, 25% did not vomit at all, and 45% experienced a substantial reduction of their vomiting.¹In a control group that received a placebo, 73% reported no reduction in nausea or vomiting. Those patients who experienced euphoria were the most likely to also experience a reduction in nausea and vomiting. Toxic effects were tolerable, but a few patients suffered paranoid ideation, feelings of terror, panic, and visual hallucinations. Nevertheless, the Sidney Farber study provoked renewed interest