Could cannabis help ease symptoms of chronic kidney disease?

Using cannabis to treat symptoms of ­chronic kidney disease (CKD) may hold promise, but a lack of related knowledge and acceptance among treating doctors may be slowing down progress.

Although CKD — which involves a gradual loss of kidney function — has no cure, there are things that can be done to “relieve the symptoms and stop it getting worse,” notes information from U.K.’s National Health Service.

To determine if cannabis could help with symptom management, authors of a pre-proof study this month in Kidney Medicine, the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation, distributed a mail-in survey to every registered nephrologist in Canada. Nephrolgists were asked about current prescribing habits, attitudes and overall comfort level with medical cannabis products.

Researchers found that those three factors “may be limiting more widespread evaluation and use.”

Of the 208 nephrologists who completed the survey, only 10.1 per cent reported that they currently prescribe cannabis, with chronic pain syndromes being the most frequent (95.2 per cent) reason for doing so.