You're listening to a special archive presentation of TED Talks Audio. This talk features physician David Casaret, recorded live at TEDmed, 2016.

I would like to tell you about the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me in my years of working as a palliative care physician.

This happened a couple of years ago. I was asked as a consultant to see a woman in her 70s

retired English professor who had pancreatic cancer. I was asked to see her because she had pain,

nausea, vomiting.

When I went to see her, we talked about those symptoms,

and in the course of that consultation, she asked me

whether I thought that medical marijuana might help her.

I thought back to everything that I had learned in medical school

about medical marijuana,

which didn't take very long because I had learned absolutely nothing. And so I told her that as far as I knew, medical marijuana

had no benefits whatsoever. And she smiled and nodded and reached into the handbag next to the

bed and pulled out a stack of about a dozen randomized controlled trials

showing that medical marijuana has benefits

for symptoms like nausea and pain and anxiety.

She handed me those articles and said,

maybe you should read these before offering an opinion, doctor.

So I did that night.

I read all of those articles and found a bunch more.

When I came to see her the next morning,

I had to admit that it looks like there is some evidence

that marijuana can offer medical benefits. And I suggested

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