The largest study in history has confirmed that medical marijuana helps with cancer symptoms and can potentially kill cancer cells themselves.

This is the largest meta-analysis on the topic of medical cannabis and cancer, including more than 10 thousand studies, which revealed:

- 75% show a positive effect of cannabis on cancer symptoms and/or its course. This is much more than the authors expected (they expected ~55%);

- Cannabis is effective against symptoms that accompany cancer: inflammation, loss of appetite, nausea;

- Synthetic CBD has reduced tumors in some patients;

- There is clinical evidence that the combination of cannabis with chemotherapy can prolong life.

Also, in laboratory conditions, cannabis kills cancer cells and stops tumor growth. In studies on living cells, cannabinoids:

- trigger apoptosis - self-destruction of cancer cells

- stop the division of tumor cells;

- block the growth of blood vessels that feed the tumor (antiangiogenesis);

- inhibit metastasis - the spread of cancer.

These effects have been observed in various types of cancer: glioblastoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and even melanoma.

Scientists hope that this work will help decriminalize cannabis at the federal level and remove restrictions on clinical trials. They believe that medical cannabis already meets or exceeds the requirements for new drugs.