Cancer patient’s attitudes of using medicinal cannabis for sleep

Abstract

Purpose

Poor sleep is one of the most common side effects of cancer treatment. One increasingly popular approach to manage side effects of cancer treatment is use of medicinal cannabis (MC).

Design

Cancer patients using MC participated in semi-structured interviews to assess their experiences with MC (n = 24). A multi-stage thematic analysis was applied to interview transcripts. Themes related to use of MC for sleep were extracted.

Findings

The majority reported MC use for sleep. These participants reported that MC improved sleep initiation and continuity, resulted in decreased use of sleep medications, and that improved sleep led to better health. No participant reported MC was ineffectual for sleep or caused undesirable side effects when used for sleep.

Conclusions

Cancer patients often utilize MC to specifically manage poor sleep. There is a need for rigorous studies assessing prevalence of use for this indication and clinical trials to assess comparative efficacy and safety.

Keywords:

• cancer patients
• complementary therapy
• medicinal cannabis
• sleep problems

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the senior author,(IMB), upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

The authors do not have any disclosures to report.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hans and Mavis Lopater Foundation.