THC Worked as an Anti-Nausea Drug for Cancer Chemotherapy Patients in a Landmark 1975 Trial

Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial. Twenty-two cancer patients receiving chemotherapy known to cause central nausea and vomiting were enrolled. Each patient served as their own control, receiving both oral THC and placebo in separate courses. Twenty patients were evaluable.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1975, this was one of the first rigorous clinical trials demonstrating that THC has genuine antiemetic properties. It helped launch the medical marijuana movement for chemotherapy support and eventually contributed to the development of synthetic THC drugs like dronabinol (Marinol) for this indication.

This trial in the New England Journal of Medicine was a watershed moment. It transformed the anecdotal observation that marijuana reduces nausea into clinical evidence. The FDA eventually approved synthetic THC (dronabinol) for chemotherapy-induced nausea in 1985, a direct descendant of research that began with studies like this one.

Small sample of 22 patients with only 20 evaluable. The abstract does not specify the THC dose. Crossover design means carryover effects are possible. Published in 1975, before modern antiemetic drugs (ondansetron, etc.) were available, so the comparator is placebo rather than current standard of care.