Peter Dearman's List: cannabis-medical

• cannabidiol - a non-psychoactive ingredient - may prevent the development of prion diseases

• cannabis extracts block a key chemical needed for tumours to sprout blood vessels - a process called angiogenesis.
• "The cannabinoid inhibits the angiogenesis response - if a tumour doesn't do angiogenesis, it doesn't grow," she explains. "So if you can improve angiogenesis on one side and kill the tumour cells on the other side, you can try for a therapy for cancer."

• Tumours in the control mice averaged about 0.6 grams in weight by the end of the five-week trial. By comparison, those in the mice that received THC weighed just 0.25 grams - 60% less.
• Ganju believes that THC inhibits cancer growth by blocking the formation of blood vessels within tumours.
• While some studies have found no link between cannabis use and cancer, others have concluded that cannabis smoking is "more harmful" than tobacco because the smoke is inhaled more deeply into the lungs.

  • The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer
    http://tinyurl.com/cp2o2c
    
    Who knew?

  • Sounds like a very scientific conclusion to me.
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• anti-invasive action of cannabinoids was analyzed by transfecting HeLa, human cervical carcinoma (C33A), or human lung carcinoma cells
• THC caused a time- and concentration-dependent suppression of HeLa cell invasion
• therapeutic option in the treatment of highly invasive cancers
• cannabinoids had been shown to reduce the invasiveness of cancer cells, but the cellular mechanisms underlying this effect were unclear
• currently used to palliate wasting, emesis, and pain in cancer patients, there is increasing evidence to suggest that these compounds may be useful for the inhibition of tumor cell growth
• regression of lung adenocarcinomas (2), gliomas (3,4), thyroid epitheliomas (5), lymphomas (6), and skin carcinomas

  • Works on many kinds of cancer, so likely works for all or most.
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• Although the mechanisms underlying the proapoptotic and antiproliferative actions of cannabinoids have been studied extensively, there are only a few reports of anti-invasive properties of these compounds (7,19,20), and the mechanism that leads to decreased invasiveness of cancer cells exposed to cannabinoids has not been clarified. Cancer cell invasion is one of the crucial events in local spreading, growth, and metastasis of tumors.
• considerable evidence to suggest an important role for cannabinoids in conferring anticarcinogenic activities
• decrease of invasiveness by MA and THC was statistically significant at concentrations as low as 0.1 µM and 0.01 µM
• In humans, average peak plasma concentrations of THC of 0.03 µM and 0.045 µM could be achieved with oral doses of 15 and 20 mg, respectively
• it is not known to what extent the principal finding of this study can be generalized to cell types other than those examined in this study. Moreover, further studies will be required to examine the relevance of our findings to in vivo tumors.

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• Reefer Madness 2 also travels to India where marijuana is openly cultivated and used in medicine, rituals and recreationally, as it has been for thousands of years with little indication of its supposed damaging effects.
• Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School and the author of Forbidden Medicine, recounts how a personal experience affecting his own family reinforced his determination to try and set the record straight about the marijuana use and cancer patients.

• Recent scientific research indicates that essential fatty acids (EFAs) cannot be manufactured by the human body and deficiencies can cause undesirable chronic conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and eczema. Therefore, hemp seed and its by-products can be used to supplement diets poor in EFAs in order to maintain health. One by-product, hemp seed oil, contains 30% of its weight in EFA-rich oil, delivering an ideal combination of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids for long term use. Hemp seed oil may have potential health benefits for diabetes, cancer, lupus, asthma rheumatoid arthritis, depression and hypertension. Hemp is one of only two plants that contain both EFAs as well as gamma linolenic acid (GLA). GLA has been found to have many properties ranging from anti-inflammatory to anti-depression. It can lower cholesterol and help to correct dyslexia, dyspraxia, and hyperactivity (ADHD). Approximately one-third of the population lacks the enzyme to metabolize GLA from omega 6 and must take GLA from an outside source to maintain good health, and hemp is an excellent way for them to do so.