Dr Claude Cyr - cannabis in palliative care

04/07/20 • 44 min

A few months ago, I interviewed Dr Claude Cyr, a Canadian family doctor and author of a number of peer reviewed papers about the use of cannabis in palliative care for an article I was writing for Project CBD.
Dr Cyr describes palliative care as the best 'port of entry' for integrating cannabis into medicine because it is one of the only disciplines where physicians actually have the time needed to spend with patients.
He says: "Palliative care is a specific situation where we can actually put into question the core philosophy of medicine which is the evidence based paradigm. I think physicians need to stop obsessing over the evidence when their patients are dying and clearly telling them, ‘I’m really enjoying this, I’m getting huge benefits from this, I’m sleeping better, I’m eating better.’ But the physicians are nodding their heads and saying, ‘I hear you, but I can’t accept this because I’m still lacking evidence.’

“But I think there is enough data out there to convince physicians that it’s safe for palliative care patients, and it’s predictable.”
I particularly enjoyed discussing with Dr Cyr how the psychoactive nature of the cannabis plant can actually have a therapeutic place in end-of-life care, potentially helping a patient to accept their death.
“When you look at the studies of psychedelics in depression and existential anxiety in cancer patients, some of these results have been dramatic,” says Dr Cyr. “Although cannabis isn’t a true psychedelic, there are some similar experiences that patients tell us about.

"At smaller doses patients experience a psycholytic effect, a lowering of the defences allowing people to explore other aspects of their psyche, and that’s when they start making connections between different aspects of their reality.”
A great, informative interview to be enjoyed.
Useful links:
Doctors for Responsible Access.
Dr Cyr's published papers on palliative care:
Cannabis in palliative care: current challenges and practical recommendations
Paediatric palliative care in Canada: A national survey of paediatricians
Quality indicators for paediatric palliative care
Another great article by Dr Cyr:
Moving Beyond Old Prejudices for the Sake of Patient Care: Incorporating Cannabis in Cancer Symptom Management
My article for Project CBDon cannabis and palliative care featuring Dr Cyr's interview
https://www.projectcbd.org/medicine/cannabis-palliative-care

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Previous Episode

Carly Barton - optimist, fighter and chronic pain patient

Who better to be the first guest on Cannabis Voices than Carly Barton, the first adult patient to get a prescription for medical cannabis in the UK since its legalisation in 2018?
Carly had a stroke at the age of 24, leaving her with debilitating chronic pain, which even the strongest opiates couldn't manage. After six years of existing with very little quality of life, she tried some homegrown cannabis given to her by a friend.
"I felt like something was missing... like I'd lost something. And that's the only feeling I equate it to is when, you know, when you've had your phone and then you've lost your phone or whatever and you sort of lost looking for it frantically. And then I realised that the lack of whatever it was, was pain."
In this episode, Carly shares her views on the current UK two tier system for accessing medical cannabis and explains why she has set up her own initiative, Carly's Amnesty, to protect patients from prosecution who choose to grown their own medicine.
She reveals how in her view, decriminalisation of cannabis is the only way patients will have full access to the plant in the manner they desire and the launch of her new project PlantEd Collective.
Carly's Amnesty: https://www.carlysamnesty.org/
PlantEd Collective: https://plantedcollective.co.uk/

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Next Episode

Professor Manuel Guzmán - future directions of cannabis as an anticancer treatment

Professor Manuel Guzman is Professor of Molecular Biology at the Complutense University in Madrid where he has been a leading light in discovering the anticancer properties of cannabinoids such as THC and CBD. He led the team behind the first ever clinical trial for THC as an antitumoral agent in the rare type of brain cancer, glioblastoma.
I recorded this interview for an article for Project CBD examining just how close we are to the approval of a cannabis-based anticancer drug, but managed to draw Manuel into a whole host of fascinating topics, on which he talked openly and frankly.
Highlights include:
A summary of how near or far we are away from a cannabis-based cancer drug.
How the bar is set higher for cannabinoids compared to other areas of research.
What other types of cancer are likely to move onto the clinical studies stage in cannabinoid research.
Manuel's view on GW Pharma's 'mining' of the cannabis field with patents for different types of cannabinoid combinations and diseases.
Why a cannabis-based cancer drug will always be trialled alongside standard treatments such as chemo or radiotherapy.
Practical advice from Manuel for patients with cancer about how to safely use cannabis oil.
The biphasic effect of THC and how this may influence its antitumoral activity.
An explanation of the difference between tolerability and tolerance.
A call to action to patients to play their part in the normalisation of cannabis by telling their doctors about their cannabis use.
Transcript:
For space reasons, I cannot include the full transcript here, but feel free to contact me via my website marybiles.com and I will happily send it.

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