New research by a government-funded institute claims that marijuana, which is only legal in four U.S. states, has shown the ability to kill certain types of cancer cells.
The federally-funded National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has revealed the following breakthrough:
“Recent animal studies have shown that marijuana extracts may help kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others. Evidence from one cell culture study suggests that purified extracts from whole-plant marijuana can slow the growth of cancer cells from one of the most serious types of brain tumors. Research in mice showed that treatment with purified extracts of THC and CBD, when used with radiation, increased the cancer-killing effects of the radiation”
The institute has revised an article entitled “DrugFacts: Is Marijuana Medicine?” on their website. They cite a November 2014 study conducted by scientists at St. George’s University, London and published in the Molecular Cancer Therapeutics journal. The British study revealed that cannabis helps “dramatically reduce” the growth of new brain cancer cells. It also stated that weed combined with radiotherapy can make brain cancer “disappear.”
“The benefits of the cannabis plant elements were known before but the drastic reduction of brain cancers if used with irradiation is something new and may well prove promising for patients who are in gravely serious situations with such cancers in the future,” stated Dr Wai Liu, Senior Research Fellow and lead researcher on the project. “The results are promising…it could provide a way of breaking through glioma and saving more lives.”
In December, somewhat hidden in a 1,603-page federal spending bill, Congress embedded a provision that effectively ended the federal government’s prohibition on medical marijuana. It was the first time that Congress had approved a measure backing nationwide medical marijuana for patients and providers.
Whether this new bill and the amazing findings in this study is embraced by the U.S. Department of Justice, and their attempt to crack down on medicinal marijuana is yet to be determined.
[RT]