Crowdfunding Cannabidiol (CBD) for Cancer: Hype and Misinformation on GoFundMe

Overview

Journal Am J Public Health

Specialty Public Health

Date 2020 Oct 1

PMID 33001729

Citations 17

Authors

Marco Zenone

Jeremy Snyder

Timothy Caulfield

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

To use crowdfunding campaigns to better understand how cannabidiol (CBD) is represented (and misrepresented) as cancer-related care. We analyzed CBD-related crowdfunding campaigns (n = 155) created between January 2017 and May 2019 in multiple countries on GoFundme.com. More than 81.9% of campaigns fundraised CBD for curative or life-prolonging reasons, and 25.2% fundraised for pain management. Most campaigns seeking funds for CBD for cancer-related care on GoFundMe are for curative or life-prolonging purposes and present CBD definitively as an effective treatment option. In general, campaigners supported their funding requests with anecdotal claims of efficacy and referenced sources of information that were either not evidence-based or that misrepresented existing evidence. Misinformation around CBD for cancer is widespread on medical crowdfunding campaigns. Given the potential adverse impact, crowdfunding platforms, like GoFundMe, must take steps to address their role in enabling and spreading this misinformation.

Citing Articles

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Alternative cancer clinics' use of Google listings and reviews to mislead potential patients.

Zenone M, Snyder J, van Schalkwyk M, Belisle-Pipon J, Hartwell G, Caulfield T BJC Rep. 2024; 2(1):55.

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Buller D, Sussman A, Thomson C, Kepka D, Taren D, Henry K JMIR Res Protoc. 2024; 13:e50392.

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The Use of Medical Crowdfunding to Mitigate the Personal Costs of Serious Chronic Illness: Scoping Review.

Killela M, Biddell C, Keim-Malpass J, Schwartz T, Soto S, Williams J J Med Internet Res. 2023; 25:e44530.

PMID: 38048149 PMC: 10697184. DOI: 10.2196/44530.

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