For many years, Cannabis has been widely used in various countries as palliative and complementary treatment, providing therapeutic support alongside conventional medical interventions for a range of conditions. Over the past decade, my lab has focused on investigating whether Cannabis can serve as a primary pharmaceutical treatment for cancer and other diseases, beyond its traditional supportive roles.

Our journey began with the understanding that Cannabis is not a single drug but a versatile plant with multifaceted therapeutic effects, extending far beyond the actions of any single cannabinoid. With that we published our first paper “The heterogeneity and complexity of Cannabis extracts as antitumor agents”, which reflected how specific Cannabis extracts can impair cancer cell survival and proliferation and induce apoptosis, but their effects are highly variable, depending both on the extract’s composition and on the unique characteristics of the cancer cells.

From that point, we began cracking down on the specific and accurate combinations of molecules that target particular cancer types. We learned that sometimes a distinct combination of metabolites is required, while other times a rare cannabinoid is the underlying cause for the observed effects. At times, the metabolites affect the cancer cells directly and at times they interact with other cells and indirectly affect the cancer cells, for example immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. In such cases, Cannabis molecules can be ombined with immunotherapy to enhance its efficacy. Similarly, these molecules can be combined with chemotherapy to overcome multidrug resistance by modulating efflux pumps, enhancing drug retention in cancer cells.

Our decade-long research has shown that Cannabis, with its complex and diverse composition, holds great promise as treatment for cancer. By identifying precise combinations of cannabinoids and metabolites, we are exploring how Cannabis can enhance the efficacy of conventional therapies like chemotherapy and immunotherapy, providing a novel approach to combating cancer.