Cancer-related pain affects a significant proportion of all cancer patients yet remains inadequately managed, particularly among cancer patients from racialized backgrounds. In recent years, there has been increased research and clinical interest in the use of medical cannabis for cancer pain management, including its potential to ameliorate racialized disparities in cancer pain control. Although medical cannabis is not currently an FDA-approved treatment option for cancer-related pain, many oncologists discuss and recommend its use with their patients, underscoring the need for researchers and clinicians to proactively identify barriers to cannabis for cancer pain management that may disproportionately impact racialized cancer patients. In this commentary, we highlight challenges cancer patients from racialized backgrounds may face when incorporating cannabis into their palliative care regimens and discuss opportunities for researchers and clinicians to address these challenges should medical cannabis become a recommended treatment option for cancer pain management. In particular, we identify challenges at the structural (eg, lack of insurance coverage), provider (eg, racialized stereotypes regarding addiction and pain) and individual (eg, internalized stigma) levels and emphasize the importance of multi-level approaches in combating these challenges as the evidence base regarding medical cannabis and its potential harms and therapeutic benefits continues to accumulate.

中文翻译：

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大麻在改善癌症疼痛管理中观察到的种族差异方面的潜在作用


与癌症相关的疼痛影响着所有癌症患者的很大一部分，但仍然没有得到充分的管理，特别是在来自种族背景的癌症患者中。近年来，人们对使用医用大麻治疗癌症疼痛的研究和临床兴趣有所增加，包括其改善癌症疼痛控制方面的种族差异的潜力。尽管医用大麻目前不是 FDA 批准的癌症相关疼痛的治疗选择，但许多肿瘤学家与患者讨论并推荐其使用，强调研究人员和临床医生需要主动识别大麻治疗癌症疼痛的障碍，这些障碍可能会不成比例地影响种族化的癌症患者。在这篇评论中，我们强调了来自种族背景的癌症患者在将大麻纳入姑息治疗方案时可能面临的挑战，并讨论了如果医用大麻成为癌症疼痛管理的推荐治疗选择，研究人员和临床医生应对这些挑战的机会。特别是，我们确定了结构性（例如，缺乏保险覆盖）、提供者（例如，关于成瘾和疼痛的种族化刻板印象）和个人（例如，内在的耻辱）层面的挑战，并强调多层次方法在应对这些挑战方面的重要性随着有关医用大麻及其潜在危害和治疗益处的证据基础不断积累，挑战不断增加。