Study Population. Two hundred and eleven patients
signed the informed consent and had the first interview on
the day of receiving the cannabis license. Of these, 106 (50%)
patients continued the treatment for a long period and had
a second interview by telephone. Fifty (24%) patients died in
the period before the second interview, and 10 (5%) patients
were lost to follow-up (no answer to the telephone in three
calls at different hours and days). Twenty (10%) patients
did not start the cannabis treatment, although they had a
license.The main reasons, as given on the telephone in the
second interview, were fear of being perceived as a criminal,
fear of starting to smoke again, general improvement due to
anticancer treatment, or symptomatic improvement due to
other symptomatic-related drugs. Twenty-five (12%) patients
stopped treatment after less than a week, mainly because of
the side effects that influenced their quality of life or the
absence of any clinical improvement. The side effects that
caused early determination of cannabis included acute psychosis,
anger attacks, dizziness, somnolence, fainting events,
burning throat, nausea and vomiting, and test changes