Study: Marijuana Appears to Slow Cancer Growth in Laboratory Setting

Thursday , December 27, 2007

Certain marijuana components may suppress the tumors of highly invasive cancers, a new study finds.

In laboratory tests, cannabinoids, the active components in marijuana, were found to slow the spread of lung and cervical cancer tumors, according to researchers Robert Ramer and Burkhard Hinz of the University of Rostock in Germany.

Proponents of medical marijuana believe that cannabinoids reduce the side effects of cancer treatment, such as pain, weight loss and vomiting.

The study, published in the Jan. 2 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, finds that the compounds may also have an anticancer effect; however, more research is needed to determine whether the laboratory results will hold true in humans, the authors wrote.

Click here for the study.

In addition to suppressing tumor cell invasion, cannabinoids also stimulated the expression of TIMP-1, an inhibitor of a group of enzymes involved in tumor cell invasion.

"To our knowledge, this is the first report of TIMP-1-dependent anti-invasive effects of cannabinoids," the authors wrote. "This signaling pathway may play an important role in the antimetastatic action of cannabinoids, whose potential therapeutic benefit in the treatment of highly invasive cancers should be addressed in clinical trials."

Source: BBC News  
A compound found in cannabis may stop breast cancer spreading throughout the body, US scientists believe.

The California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute team are hopeful that cannabidiol or CBD could be a non-toxic alternative to chemotherapy.

Unlike cannabis, CBD does not have any psychoactive properties so its use would not violate laws, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics reports.

Initiative Petition 131, the so-called Oregon Crimefighting Act, pushed by right-wing Republican Kevin Mannix , will be pulled from circulation, Mr. Mannix informed The Willamette Week .  Mannix claims that lack of resources has caused him to end this ill-advised boondoggle even though the effort recieved a $50,000 contribution from Save Our Society From Drugs (S.O.S.), a Florida-based organization that works to treat patients like criminals all across the country.  Mannix and his cronies were attempting to mislead Oregon voters by hiding the repeal of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA) behind provisions that increase the punishment for sex offenders and drunk drivers, while also establishing a taxpayer-funded Marinol prescription drug program that would cost hard-working Oregonians millions of dollars.

While we have won a major victory in 2008, the fight to preserve the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program continues as Mannix stated that he may try to abolish the program in 2010.   

Instead of showing compassion for sick and disabled patients, Mannix and S.O.S. work to put patients behind the bars of jail cells. Don't be fooled by Kevin Mannix and his political cronies --their proposals won't fight crime, it will create new crimes and treat law-abiding patients as drug dealers. 

Treating patients suffering through severe and debilitating medical conditions like cancer as criminals will divert our limited law enforcement resources from combatting violent and serious crimes as thousands of patients are investigated, arrested, convicted and jailed as common criminals.  We have witnessed such ill-advised tactics at the federal level as the Bush Administration has chosen to arrest medical marijuana patients and providers instead of allocating those resources towards fighting violent criminals and terrorists.  Further, Mannix hopes to waste millions of dollars on a boondoggle prescription drug program for an ineffective drug that patients don't even want!

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, John Conyers, D-Mich, asked the Drug Enforcement Agency whether our nation's limited resources should be wasted by targeting medical cannabis patients and their providers.  In a letter to the agency, Rep. Conyers asked, "do you think the DEA's limited resources are best utilized conducting enforcement raids on individuals and their caregivers who are conducting themselves legally under California law?” 

The chairman also inquired into how much the agency was spending on the raids.

Conyers further questioned why civil forfeiture laws, usually reserved for "the worst drug traffickers and kingpins" would be used against landlords of medical cannabis dispensaries.  The chairman also inquired into how much the agency was spending on the raids.

Tell your representative that you support Conyers’ tough questioning of the DEA and that the agency should stop persecuting medical cannabis patients.