National Brain Cancer Foundation

The Cannabinoid Research Group of Complutense University in Madrid, Spain and Voices Against Brain Cancer, a national foundation headquartered in New York, announce today that a collaborative alliance has been signed by both organizations. The consideration of the benefits of Marijuana and the compounds contained within the plant known as "cannabinoids" for medicinal purposes is currently a prominent subject matter in North America. In an effort to fast track the propagation of accurate scientific based information on therapeutic opportunities incorporating cannabinoids, these two groups have formed an exclusive partnership in the United States.

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When asked about the research findings to date, Mr. Guzman noted that "published research clearly shows the anticancer action of cannabinoids impacting glioblastoma multiforma (GBM), and how chemotherapy results of tumor reduction are improved upon by adding cannabinoids as part of the treatment regimen."

"We have an obligation to remain open minded about where the cure for brain cancer will come from, said Michael Klipper, Chairman of Voices Against Brain Cancer. Manuel Guzmán and his research team are world class leaders in the clinical research of cannabinoids and cancer." We recognize our responsibility to disseminate the information associated with the published research, which supports the medicinal legitimacy and can help guide patients and government lawmakers when considering the use of Cannabinoids."

Inoperable Brain Tumor "Miracle Baby"

...he was "quite a skeptic 5 or 6 years ago", Dr. Courtney continued that "my youngest patient is 8 months old, and had a very massive centrally located inoperable brain tumor." The child's father pushed for non-traditional treatment utilizing cannabis.

"They were putting cannabinoid oil on the baby's pacifier twice a day, increasing the dose... And within two months there was a dramatic reduction, enough that the pediatric oncologist allowed them to go ahead with not pursuing traditional therapy."

The tumor was remarkably reduced after eight months of treatment. Dr. Courtney pointed out that the success of the cannabis approach means that "this child, because of that, is not going to have the long-term side effects that would come from a very high dose of chemotherapy or radiation...

You can read more here.

Dennis Hill - How Cannabis Kills Cancer Cells

Cannabis For Leukemia

Time Magazine published and article on marijuana ans cancer. Study: Marijuana Compounds Can Kill Some Cancer Cells. It opens with:

Compounds derived from marijuana can kill cancerous cells in patients with leukemia, according to a recent study.

The study, published in the Anticancer Research journal, was partially funded by GW Pharmaceuticals. which already produces a cannabis-derived drug to help people with multiple sclerosis. Dr. Wai Liu studied six different non-psychoactive cannabinoids (compounds derived from marijuana that don’t get the user high like its THC component does). He found that certain non-psychoactive cannabinoids “resulted in dramatic reductions in cell viability” and “caused a simultaneous arrest at all phases of the cell cycle,” according to the study summary posted online.

And then there is this report which although strictly anecdotal is very interesting.



We actually have some details of her cannabis use.

The girl, who calls herself "Brave Mykayla," takes a gram of cannabis oil daily to combat side effects of her chemotherapy, such as nausea, restlessness and loss of appetite, but she says that the pills make her feel "funny."

Mykayla's mother, Erin Purchase, credits cannabis with her daughter's remission, but Jesse Comstock, the girl's father, who is divorced from Purchase, is concerned that the use of medical marijuana will impair his daughter's mental development.

He is concerned about her mental development? How well do dead children develop mentally?

What we haven't seen so far is an assay of any of the oils used in treatment. I would think that such assays would be extremely helpful.

Here is another anecdote: Elias Cooper Story: Treating Leukemia With Cannabis Oil

By January 2013 Elias's condition had advanced so far that chemo was the option Elias's doctor left him with. Since Elias was opposed to chemo his wife, Debra Cooper, went online and started to look for alternative treatments for her husbands condition. Thank God for that decision because it is what has saved his life.

Debras research guided her to "Brave" Mykayla, the 8 year old who is using cannabis oil to treat her leukemia. Mykayla is one of the youngest medical marijuana patients in the US and has had great results using cannabis oil to treat her leukemia. Mykayla and her family have been on many TV news segments and shows sharing her story. Elias and Debra were very impressed at the results shown by Mykayla. They were so impressed that they decided to get Elias his medical marijuana card so he to could try cannabis oil.

When Elias finally had his medical marijuana card his wife again turned to the internet to find how to make cannabis oil. Her search for directions to make cannabis oil landed her here, cureyourowncancer.org, on the make the oil page. They followed the instructions here on the site to make Elias's oil and got him started on it right away. He took his first dose of cannabis oil on February 3rd 2013. Elias ingested the oil ever day for about 3 weeks before he went back to the doctor for a checkup. That checkup showed his white blood cell count was down 40,000.

Links at the link. Here is one to get you started: cureyourowncancer.org.

How Cannabis Cures Cancer

Dennis Hill explains how cannabis kills cancer cells in: How Cannabis Oil Works to Kill Cancer Cells.

First let’s look at what keeps cancer cells alive, then we will come back and examine how the cannabinoids CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) unravels cancer’s aliveness.

In every cell there is a family of interconvertible sphingolipids that specifically manage the life and death of that cell. This profile of factors is called the “Sphingolipid Rheostat.” If endogenous ceramide(a signaling metabolite of sphingosine-1-phosphate) is high, then cell death (apoptosis) is imminent. If ceramide is low, the cell is strong in its vitality.

Very simply, when THC connects to the CB1 or CB2 cannabinoid receptor site on the cancer cell, it causes an increase in ceramide synthesis which drives cell death. A normal healthy cell does not produce ceramide in the presence of THC, thus is not affected by the cannabinoid.

There is much more. Follow the link to read it.

Cannabis For Brain Tumors

I'm going to post a medical abstract that covers brain tumors. Yes there is a lot of complicated medical terminology. So what is the bottom line? Cannabis seems to be the only medicine that affects these tumors and it does so without dangerous side effects. Not "no side effects" but side effects that do not kill you or introduce new problems (like cancer). See below for videos on the subject.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common form of primary brain tumor and is diagnosed in approximately 15,000 people each year in the United States alone. No cure for this type of cancer exists, and the current standard of care treatments provide little benefit and are associated with debilitating side effects. Recent evidence shows that a large number of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) invade the GBM tumor mass and secrete factors that directly and indirectly promote tumor growth. TAMs express a panel of unique receptors that could be targeted for therapeutic benefit. One such receptor, cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2), is a member of the endocannabinoid (eCB) signaling system, and its activation has been shown to tightly control the migration and phenotype of both macrophages and microglia. Additional receptors, also engaged by eCBs and cannabinoid-like compounds, are expressed by macrophages and microglia. These receptors also control cell migration and phenotype, but exhibit distinct pharmacological profiles and operate through a different mechanism of action. Strong evidence accumulated over the past decade indicates that membrane receptors expressed by TAMs represent novel targeting opportunities to treat GBM tumor progression. Here we review studies that significantly increased our understanding of the molecular mechanism of action of receptors engaged by eCBs and cannabinoid-like compounds expressed by GBM tumor cells and TAMs. This evidence provides a strong rationale for developing new therapeutics that target the eCB signaling of TAMs for the treatment of GBM while minimizing the typical side effects associated with standard care.

PubMed NIH - cannabinoid cancer.

Marijuana Prohibition is a crime against humanity.

Cancer Research Chemist Cured His Prostate Cancer

The interviewer is lousy but otherwise Biochemist Dennis Hill makes a very good case.

If you would like to read more about his treatment regimen may I suggest Biochemist Dennis Hill, who cured his stage 4 prostate cancer with Cannabis oil, explains how it works. Here is his latest report:

Most recent update from Dennis Hill (2.28.13):

My progress is good. Asked my doctor the meaning of my last three PSAs. He said: The PSA has not risen over 2.4 in nine months, we can presume the cancer is in remission. Music to my ears. Cannabinoid extract wins again. Huzzah!

Who is Dennis Hill?

Biochemist Dennis Hill graduated from the University of Houston and did his Graduate Work at Baylor Medical School. Dennis worked as a Cancer Researcher at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. When Dennis was diagnosed with advanced stage prostate cancer, which had metastasized to other parts of his body, he started researching. Since Dennis has a family history of prostate cancer, and he often witnessed ineffective results while working in cancer research, he felt a new approach was in order.

After researching possible alternatives Dennis ran across information about Rick Simpson using cannabis concentrate, which is an extract of the essential oil which is extracted from marijuana and contains cannabinoids. Simpson was using the oil to treat a wide variety of illness, including cancer. The more Dennis researched, the more he understood how cannabis worked on cancer. He has included 2 papers for the review of anyone interested that go into the science of how cannabis kills cancer.

How And Why Cannabis Can Cure Cancer

Narrated in part by my old buddy Peter Coyote.

NIH cites from Manuel Guzman.

THC and Brain Cancer

Guillermo Velasco and colleagues, at Complutense University, Spain, have provided evidence that suggests that cannabinoids such as the main active component of marijuana (THC) have anticancer effects on human brain cancer cells.

In the study, THC was found to induce the death of various human brain cancer cell lines and primary cultured human brain cancer cells by a process known as autophagy.

Consistent with the in vitro data, administration of THC to mice with human tumors decreased tumor growth and induced the tumor cells to undergo autophagy. As analysis of tumors from two patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (a highly aggressive brain tumor) receiving intracranial THC administration showed signs of autophagy, the authors suggest that cannabinoid administration may provide a new approach to targeting human cancers.

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From the NIH Hypothesis: cannabinoid therapy for the treatment of gliomas?

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Confirmation of the hypothesis: Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells

Autophagy can promote cell survival or cell death, but the molecular basis underlying its dual role in cancer remains obscure. Here we demonstrate that delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component of marijuana, induces human glioma cell death through stimulation of autophagy. Our data indicate that THC induced ceramide accumulation and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha (eIF2alpha) phosphorylation and thereby activated an ER stress response that promoted autophagy via tribbles homolog 3-dependent (TRB3-dependent) inhibition of the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) axis. We also showed that autophagy is upstream of apoptosis in cannabinoid-induced human and mouse cancer cell death and that activation of this pathway was necessary for the antitumor action of cannabinoids in vivo. These findings describe a mechanism by which THC can promote the autophagic death of human and mouse cancer cells and provide evidence that cannabinoid administration may be an effective therapeutic strategy for targeting human cancers.

Full text of the report in pdf

Marijuana Cured My Cancer

Los Angeles City Council member Bill Rosendahl: "I thanked God... ...medical marijuana has saved my life."

I don't understand why the endocannabinoid system isn't better appreciated.

NIH: Endocannabinoids in the immune system and cancer.

Modulation of the endocannabinoid system interferes with cancer cell proliferation either by inhibiting mitogenic autocrine/paracrine loops or by directly inducing apoptosis....

And that is only one cite among thousands.

Go to nih.gov and use their search function to search - endocannabinoid cancer - we know a lot. And we are learning more every day.

H/T The Weed Blog