{"id":295,"date":"2021-09-13T17:50:14","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T17:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/?page_id=295"},"modified":"2025-05-05T17:40:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T17:40:11","slug":"cannabis-use-and-symptom-management","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/our-research\/cannabis-use-and-symptom-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannabis Use and Symptom Management"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dr. Ashare&#8217;s research interests include several aspects of cannabis use in the context of comorbid medical conditions.&nbsp;Patients are increasingly using cannabis to manage symptoms such as pain, anxiety, and insomnia. However, due to cannabis&#8217; classification as a Schedule 1 substance by the United States Food and Drug Administration, <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/32012232\/\">the science has seriously lagged behind state cannabis laws and clinical practice<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, our research focuses on three key areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>whether cannabis may help to reduce opioid use for managing pain among cancer patients<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/31711967\/\">qualitative study conducted by our colleague, Dr. Salimah Meghani<\/a>, at the University of Pennsylvania suggested that patients may attempt to use cannabis to avoid taking opioids, as one patient said: <em>&#8220;I&#8217;ll [first] go to the marijuana. If that doesn\u2019t work, I\u2019ll go to the harder medicines\u2026Rather than take OxyContin and hydrocodone, I\u2019m taking\u2026the [marijuana] strands&#8221;.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>evaluating perceptions and patterns of cannabis use among cancer patients<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We conducted a large survey of patients with cancer to evaluate the prevalence and patients\u2019 perceptions of cannabis use. This study was conducted as part of a consortium of 11 other cancer centers around the country. The results found that across sites 33% of patients reporting using cannabis since their cancer diagnosis. A series of studies from this consortium is published in an issue of<a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jncimono\/issue\/2024\/66\"> JNCI Monographs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 evaluating the benefits and harms of cannabis use for symptom management during cancer treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are currently conducting two large observational studies to evaluate the role of cannabis use in symptom management among patients with cancer. Both studies follow patients for 1 year and utilize ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess cannabis use at the daily level along with dynamic changes in pain, anxiety, and sleep. Collaborators include Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Thomas Jefferson University\/Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania\/Abramson Cancer Center, and Oregon Health and Science University\/Knight Cancer Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-accent-color has-text-color\">Selected Publications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s40675-024-00317-5\">The State of the Evidence for Medical Cannabis as a Treatment for Pain-related Sleep Impairments: Integrating Social Determinants of Health into Research Design and Policy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jncimono\/article\/2024\/66\/202\/7728495\">Perceptions, prevalence, and patterns of cannabis use among cancer patients treated at 12 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jncimono\/article\/2024\/66\/267\/7728486\">Cannabis and opioid perceptions, co-use, and substitution among patients across 4 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/journal-of-clinical-and-translational-science\/article\/ask-the-experts-community-engagement-studios-to-inform-research-on-cannabis-use-in-cancer-symptom-management\/912BE563CDD10EC8686C5BF7141A78D5\">Ask the Experts: Community Engagement Studios to Inform Research on Cannabis Use in Cancer Symptom Management<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-accent-color has-text-color\">This work is supported by:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>R01-CA270483 (Meghani\/Ashare\/Worster, MPI)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>U01-CA286811 (Ashare\/Meghani\/Nugent, MPI)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Ashare&#8217;s research interests include several aspects of cannabis use in the context of comorbid medical conditions.&nbsp;Patients are increasingly using cannabis to manage symptoms such as pain, anxiety, and insomnia. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":470,"featured_media":0,"parent":649,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-295","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/295\/revisions\/701"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/enable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}