Medical cannabis breakthrough: Largest-ever AI study uncovers promising potential in cancer treatment

Medical cannabis has received major scientific support over its potential to treat symptoms of cancer as well as probably fighting on the course of the deadly disease. This came after the largest study ever that investigated its use as a treatment for cancer. The research got published in Frontiers in Oncology earlier this week, The Guardian reported.

Medical cannabis: Decoding the study

The latest study was funded by Cancer Playbook that is tasked with collecting and analysing data over patient-reported outcomes in collaboration with the Whole House Oncology Institute.


Ryan Castle, the lead author of the analysis, said that the idea behind conducting this research was to solidify agreement over the potential of cannabis to help in treating cancer.

This was made possible even when marijuana continues to remain an illegal Schedule I narcotic.

Castle said that their aim was to determine the scientific consensus over medical cannabis, a topic which he said has "long been dominated by a war between cherry picked studies”.

With marijuana being a Schedule I substance, the restrictions in place play a major role in hampering its clinical research in humans. However, there are various observational studies on medical cannabis and cancer as well as lab research that provide much needed details about its effect on tumors in animals and test tubes.

The latest study on medical cannabis, led by Castle, analysed as many of these large bodies of observational studies as possible.

“In order to move beyond bias – conscious or not – it was essential to use a large-scale, radically inclusive methodology based on mathematical reasoning,” The Guardian quoted Castle as saying.

The research director at the Whole Health Oncology Institute claimed that the team looked forward to analyzing "nearly every major medical cannabis study" to come forward with "actual points of scientific agreement.”

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How was the study carried out?

In order to carry out the study, Castle and his team took help of artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, they utilised 'sentiment analysis,' which is considered as a natural language processing technique for doing in-depth analysis into more than 10,000 studies carried out in the past over cannabis and cancer.

Castle claims it to be "10 times" bigger in sample size in comparison with the next largest study. According to him, this helped them reach out a "more conclusive review of the scientific consensus”.

During the study, the 'sentiment analysis' technique made them see through all sorts of views -- positive, negative or neutral -- on the potential of cannabis to treat cancer.

In conclusion, the research has overwhelmingly supported medical cannabis as a "treatment for cancer-related inflammation, appetite loss and nausea," the report said.

Interestingly, it even claims that cannabis holds the capability to fight cancer cells and stops their spread.

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FAQs

1. What is marijuana?
As per the US Drug Enforcement Administration, it is a "mind-altering psychoactive drug" and is "addictive".

2. How many people consume it around the world?
Official data by the World Health Organization (WHO) states that nearly 147 million people (2.5 per cent population of the world) consume cannabis (annual prevalence).