{"id":1428,"date":"2022-09-27T18:11:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T18:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/navyblue.bcmultistaging.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1428"},"modified":"2025-12-30T21:35:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T21:35:53","slug":"marijuana-medicine-kids-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/2022\/09\/27\/marijuana-medicine-kids-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana as medicine for kids with cancer: An emerging field of desperately needed research"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least once or twice a month, Dr. Rod Rassekh<\/a> gets asked by colleagues at BC Children\u2019s Hospital to meet with a cancer patient and their family so he can advise them on using medical marijuana.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n

Parents want to know how to help their kids manage symptoms from harsh cancer treatments, and sometimes they want to learn more about potential anti-cancer effects for the most difficult to treat cancers.

Since the legalization of recreational marijuana in October 2018, more and more families have been turning to cannabis, even though there are currently no evidence-based guidelines for medical marijuana use in pediatric patients.

Dr. Rassekh, a BC Children\u2019s investigator and oncologist, says, \u201cFamilies on the ward are finding out about cannabis from each other, or they are looking it up on the internet, and now you can buy whatever you want from stores on just about every corner. I have come to the realization that if no one gives these families advice, we will end up seeing kids in the ICU. \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n


Guidelines on cannabis use for kids desperately needed<\/h3>\n\n

That is exactly what piqued Dr. Rassekh\u2019s keen interest in this emerging field about seven years ago. Two children with cancer ended up in the ICU<\/a> within a short time of each other, both with extremely low blood pressure. Neither child had previous issues with low blood pressure. Turns out both kids had taken cannabis oil \u2014 one had tried it for the first time and the other had just increased their dose significantly.<\/p>\n\n

Since then, Dr. Rassekh has focused on\u00a0research that will lead to scientifically-based guidelines on medical marijuana<\/a>\u00a0for pediatric patients and their families. He says it\u2019s the complete opposite of all the other research he has previously done, as this drug is already widely used and easily available to anyone.<\/p>\n\n

\n\t
\n\t
\n\t
\n\t
\n\t
\n\t\t

\u201cThe horse is out of the barn. This is happening in such a backwards way, but we need to try and make cannabis use safer.\u201d<\/p>\t<\/blockquote>\n\t

\n\t\t– Dr. Rod Rassekh\t<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe horse is out of the barn. This is happening in such a backwards way, but we need to try and make cannabis use safer,\u201d Dr. Rassekh says. \u201cWith every other drug I prescribe to my patients, it\u2019s already gone through a phase one study to find the right dose, then a phase two study to look at efficacy, and then a phase three to compare it to a placebo. Medical marijuana is already in phase four!\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Families of children with cancer end up doing their own research<\/h3>\n\n

Wes Rota found out first-hand just how little information there is available on medical marijuana use for children when he and his wife had to navigate their oldest daughter Ruby\u2019s devastating diagnosis of an aggressive brain cancer in 2015. The five-year-old had just started kindergarten when she was diagnosed with DIPG<\/a>, or diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, which is found in an area of the brainstem known as the pons. Only one out of 10 children with DIPG survive up to two years. There are no treatment options available except radiation, which is rarely successful for DIPG.<\/p>\n\n

\n\t
\n\t
\n\t
\n\t<\/figure>\n
\n\t

The Rota family L to R: Wes, Smith, Ruby, Heather and Poppy<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The Kelowna-based father started researching online to see if he could find anything to help his daughter. He found a lot of so-called treatments and therapies on the internet that were obvious scams, but as he read more about cannabis, he thought it might be worth a try for Ruby. Dr. Rassekh gave them a prescription for medical marijuana, and helped guide them with the little information he had on dosing, based on trial and error. Rota was astounded at the lack of scientific information available.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI have never even smoked a joint in my life. I knew absolutely nothing about cannabis and I was suddenly immersed in it,\u201d Rota recalls. \u201cThere were a lot of late nights with spreadsheets, figuring out terpenes and strains, and everything else I could learn about cannabinoids, the compounds found in cannabis plants. Then I started ordering cannabis and we came up with our own recipe for oil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

(Terpenes are naturally occurring compounds found in plants and some animals. In cannabis, terpenes determine the smell or taste of different strains, and can also have therapeutic properties.)<\/p>\n\n

Cannabis is complicated<\/h3>\n\n

There is still a lot we don\u2019t know about cannabis as it isn\u2019t just one specific product. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the two most well-known components, but cannabis contains more than 500 distinct compounds.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cNo two oils are the same,\u201d Dr. Rassekh emphasizes.<\/p>\n\n

\n\t
\n\t
\n\t
\n\t<\/figure>\n
\n\t

Cannabis contains more than 500 distinct compounds.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

He and Dr. Amanda Li<\/a>, a fellow BC Children\u2019s researcher and oncologist, are conducting a pilot study measuring cannabinoids in the blood of pediatric patients after they take a dose of cannabis. The study participants are taking different products and the researchers want to know what is actually being absorbed by each child.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cLooking at the initial results, the levels are all over the place. The compounds in the various cannabis products are very different from what ends up in the bloodstream,\u201d says Dr. Rasskeh.<\/p>\n\n

They are hoping this pilot study will help provide data to launch a more robust clinical trial. But it\u2019s clear from early results that research around cannabis is complicated. Even prescribing medicinal marijuana to young cancer patients at BC Children\u2019s involves obtaining special ethics approval.<\/p>\n\n

On top of that, no one really understands the long-term effects of cannabis on the brain of developing and growing children. For example, Dr. Rassekh has noticed that kids who are taking cannabis wake up differently from anesthesia and can be agitated, and only settled when given a dose of their oil.<\/p>\n\n

Medical marijuana use for kids beyond just cancer<\/h3>\n\n

Dr. Rassekh is part of a national partnership of multidisciplinary child health experts who are studying medical cannabis in children. The Canadian Childhood Cannabinoid Clinical Trials<\/a>, or C4T, was formed in 2018 to better understand the risks and potential benefits of therapeutic cannabis. Current projects include cannabis for chronic pain and chronic headaches, and tracking severe adverse events from medical marijuana use in children.<\/p>\n\n

At BC Children\u2019s, Dr. Rassekh, along with Dr. Hal Siden<\/a> and research manager Marissa Gibbard, are about to launch a study across the entire hospital to get an idea of how many children are using medical marijuana. Using iPads, the anonymous questionnaire will also explore where parents are getting their information about cannabis, as well as where they are getting their products. (The team’s study on family experiences using medical cannabis for children<\/a> was published last year.)<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe think there is a higher prevalence of use than people are aware of as cannabis is gaining a lot of traction in the autism community, and for behavioural issues and anxiety,\u201d adds Dr. Rassekh.<\/p>\n\n

Cannabis gave Ruby a better quality of life<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n

Rota and his wife Heather started Ruby on very small doses of the cannabis oil, and right away, the effects were noticeable. \u201cShe was sleeping better, we didn\u2019t have to give her morphine, she just seemed to be able to go on with her daily life,\u201d explains Rota. \u201cOther children we know with the same cancer who weren\u2019t taking cannabis were not experiencing the same life.\u201d

Every opportunity they could, when Ruby was feeling good, the Rotas took off to either Disneyland or Hawaii. Wes says these precious family vacations would not have been possible if Ruby had not been using cannabis oil.

While cannabis helped Ruby live a longer, better quality of life than was expected, sadly, she passed away 17 months after she was diagnosed.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n


\u201cIt\u2019s been a few years and I still hear her laugh every day. You don\u2019t forget that,\u201d Wes remarks. \u201cRuby was so charismatic. Everyone loved her and she touched so many people at such a young age. To this day, if you bring up her name, people know her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Wes says their journey with Ruby really opened their eyes and made them realize how they could make a difference for other families in the future, in honour of their daughter. She was always willing to help anybody she could, and now the Rotas are continuing her legacy by\u00a0fundraising for cannabinoid research<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\n\t
\n\t
\n\t
\n\t<\/figure>\n
\n\t

Ruby (on the left) with her younger siblings Smith and Poppy.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of our grieving process. We want to do something that makes us feel good. Every time we have been at the hospital, we have seen other parents leaving the doctor\u2019s office, crying in the lobby. They just got their bad news. In Ruby\u2019s name, we can help them.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least once or twice a month, Dr. Rod Rassekh gets asked by colleagues at BC Children\u2019s Hospital to meet with a cancer patient and their family so he can advise them on using medical marijuana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","fndry_alternate_title":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":"Andrea Sakamoto","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1428"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2475,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions\/2475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/childhoodcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}