Cannabis Therapeutic Applications - Review

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Medical cannabis refers to the use of cannabis or cannabinoids as medical therapy to treat disease or alleviate symptoms. Cannabinoids can be given orally, sublingually or topically, can be smoked, inhaled, mixed with food or made into tea. Objectives Elaboration of a systematic literature review about cannabis’s medicinal and therapeutic properties. It is intended to characterize the plant and its properties, highlighting the proven therapeutic evidence published in the area of oncology and diseases of the central nervous system. Methodology The selection of articles was based on the reading and analysis of the title and the abstract; only articles published in the last 15 years have been considered. After full analysis of the selected articles, it was concluded that 64 scientific articles were relevant to the study. Results With this systematic review, we can conclude that its therapeutic application in areas such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and in the relief of some cancer patient’s symptoms is promising. Its apparent anti-tumour activity in various types of cancer is of increasing scientific interest as current treatments in these situations are scarce. Conclusion The future of cannabis therapy is getting closer. It is therefore necessary to study and develop new synthetic analogues of THC, with better separation between therapeutic and side effects. Scientific advances show that Cannabis sativa is a treatment option for many conditions. With this systematic review we can conclude that its therapeutic application in areas such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and in the relief of some symptoms in cancer patients is promising. Its apparent anti-tumour activity in various types of cancer is also of increasing scientific interest.