Marijuana is effective in treating nausea, anorexia and wasting.

Nausea, anorexia, and wasting are common symptoms of many cancers and AIDS.(36) These symptoms are also the common adverse side effects of chemotherapy and other aggressive therapies used to treat those diseases and associated pain.(37) While other antiemetics are available, not all patients respond to these therapies.(38) Marijuana can provide critical relief for persons suffering from acute or chronic nausea and vomiting who do not respond to conventional therapies.(39) As the Institute of Medicine explains, “[t]he critical issue is not whether marijuana or cannabinoid drugs might be superior to the new drugs, but whether some group of patients might obtain added or better relief from marijuana or cannabinoid drugs.” IOM Report at 153.

The IOM unequivocally concludes that there is indeed a groupof patients to whom marijuana offers relief and that even the potentially harmful effects of smoking marijuana may be outweighed by the benefit provided. It is possible that the harmful effects of smoking marijuana for a limited period of time might be outweighed by the antiemetic benefits of marijuana, at least for patients for whom standard antiemetic therapy is ineffective and who suffer from debilitating emesis. Such patients should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and treated under close medical supervision. Id. at 154.

Similarly, marijuana affords essential relief to patients suffering from anorexia and wasting syndromes for whom no other medications have worked.(40) (See complete APHA amicus brief for footnotes.)

Expert and Sworn Patient Testimony: Nausea and Emesis

Joy, Janet E.; Stanley J. Watson, Jr.; John A. Benson, Jr., Eds. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Washington, DC: Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health, Institute of Medicine. 1999. 259 p. (Chapter 4 of this report contains sections on nausea, vomiting, wasting syndrome and anorexia)

Article and Studies

State-sponsored studies on cannabis and nausea from Tennessee, Georgia and New Mexico.

Doblin, Richard; Kleiman, Mark A. R. "Marijuana as Antiemetic Medicine: A Survey of Oncologists' Experiences and Attitudes." 1990.

A random-sample anonymous survey of the members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) was conducted in the spring of 1990 measuring the attitudes and experiences of American oncologists concerning the antiemetic use of marijuana in cancer chemotherapy patients. Of the respondents who expressed an opinion, a majority (54%) thought marijuana should be available by prescription.

Ekert, H., et al. "Amelioration of Cancer Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting by Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol." The Medical Journal of Australia. 1979.

Sallan, Stephen E., et al. "Antiemetics in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy for Cancer." The New England Journal of Medicine. 1980. 302(3): 135-138.

Sallan, Stephen E., et al. "Antiemetic Effect of Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in Patients Receiving Cancer Chemotherapy." The New England Journal of Medicine. 1975. 293(16): 795-797.

V. Vinciguerra et al., "Inhalation marijuana as an anti-emetic for cancer chemotherapy." New York State Journal of Medicine. 1988. 88: 525-527.