Reefer Medicine

Cannabidiol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers.

When you hear the word metastasis, it is usually in the same breath as cancer. And it is never a good thing when a deadly disease like this starts to spread.

Fortunately, a couple of scientists in San Francisco have developed a treatment derived from cannabis that looks very promising. Pierre Desprez and Sean McAllister combined Cannabidiol, a chemical compound from the cannabis plant, with cells containing ID-1, the gene that allows cancer to spread. What they discovered was fascinating.

The cells stopped spreading. Not only that, but they returned to normal.

I should also mention that lab and animal trials have already been completed, and the hope is for a human trial sometime soon. There have been no weird side effects, no toxic poisonings and nothing to indicate a danger to human subjects. In fact, Cannabidiol is already used by people for a number of different reasons. It’s perfectly safe.

Cannabis (Photo credit: Duncan Brown (Cradlehall))

This could be huge in terms of cancer treatment, and Desprez and McAllister already have some ideas.

“We started by researching breast cancer,” Desprez said. “But now we’ve found that Cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers–brain, prostate–any kind in which these high levels of ID-1 are present.”

If things go according to plan, this treatment could available within a few years. Can you imagine having a medicine that could prevent the spread of cancer? Not only that, but a cannabis-based medicine.

Let’s see Romney and Ryan vote against that!