Cannabis in Gastrointestinal Disorders

For thousands of years, cannabis and its derivatives have been used for the treatment of human diseases including those that present with gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Within the past decades and after the discovery of the endocannabinoid system in the body, largely anecdotal rather than scientific reports on the effects of cannabis in human diseases began to appear and resulted in clinicians becoming more interested in prescribing synthetic or herbal cannabinoids for their patients. Moreover, based on the media and advertisements as well as their personal experience, patients and particularly those with debilitating diseases such as cancer and chronic disorders with abdominal pain such as inflammatory bowel disease showed interest in smoking cannabis. Despite the strong evidence supporting the therapeutic role of cannabis in nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy and cachexia of AIDS, studies on the use of cannabis for other GI disorders are limited and sparse. In this article, we review available clinical evidence in supporting medical cannabis for GI diseases.