If you did, then you would be wrong...
With the policy changes being implemented under President Obama, in regard to medicinal marijuana, I thought this might be a great time to remind everyone that medical marijuana doesn't stop with helping chemo patients eat, sleep, and other basic comforts...
Unfortunately, I am pressed for time, and will have to write this diary in extreme haste. There is a wealth of information if you take the time to read the studies, or just go to NORML.org (Nation Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). I have tried to provide working links to all information sources.
The last two decades have brought about a whirlwind of new developments and findings in the advancement of medical marijuana. Beginning with "Reefer Madness" (the movie and the lack of rationale when discussing marijuana policies), all the way through the Nixon and Reagan "War On Drugs" the people that hate science (aka Republicans) brought about injustice to not only poor, more impoverished people, but also to the scientific community.
Marijuana has long been used in ancient cultures for medicinal purposes, and now science is finally catching up.
Medical Benefits of Marijuana
with a lot of help from www.NORML.org
Marijuana compounds have "palliative" and "curative" effects on cancerous cells.
According to the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy
Cannabinoids (the active components of Cannabis sativa) and their derivatives have received renewed interest in recent years due to their diverse pharmacological activities. In particular, cannabinoids offer potential applications as anti-tumour drugs, based on the ability of some members of this class of compounds to limit cell proliferation and to induce tumour-selective cell death.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...
Based on this recent study, and a 2008 review published in the journal Cancer Research, based on three US university studies.
the administration of cannabinoids halts the spread of a wide range of cancers, including brain cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, pancreatic cancer, and lymphoma.
and,
"Cannabinoids ... offer potential applications as anti-tumor drugs, based on the ability of some members of this class to limit inflammation, cell proliferation, and cell survival," authors concluded. "[T]here is overwhelming evidence to suggest that cannabinoids can be explored as chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer."
http://norml.org/...
Marijuana has also been found to have antitumor properties in its relation with gliomas (tumors formed in the brain).
From: 1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I, School of Biology, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain and 2 Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Cannabinoids, the active components of Cannabis sativa L. and their derivatives, inhibit tumor growth in laboratory animals by inducing apoptosis of tumor cells and impairing tumor angiogenesis. It has also been reported that these compounds inhibit tumor cell spreading...
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/...
also this:
from the Department of Pharmacology, Chemotherapy and Toxicology (P.M., A.C.), and Department of Pharmacological Sciences, School of Pharmacy, and Center of Excellence for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Milan, Milan, Italy (S.C., M.P.A.); and Department of Structural and Functional Biology, Pharmacology Unit and Center of Neuroscience, University of Insubria, Busto Arsizio (Varese), Italy (A.V., D.P.)
Both natural and synthetic as well as endogenous cannabinoids have been found to affect the rate of cell proliferation in cell lines derived from the central nervous system. Very intriguing was the demonstration that THC and WIN-55,212-2 have been demonstrated to suppress the growth of rat glioma C6 cells inoculated intracerebrally in the rat or subcutaneously in immune-deficient mice, through a cannabinoid receptor-dependent mechanism
a seperate study has been done on each of the following:
including breast carcinoma; http://mct.aacrjournals.org/...
prostate carcinoma;
http://www.sciencedirect.com/...
colorectal carcinoma;
http://gut.bmj.com/...
skin carcinoma;
http://www.jci.org/...
leukemia cells;
http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrar...
nueroblastoma;
http://americanmarijuana.org/...
lung carcinoma;
http://www.nature.com/...
pancreatic adenocarcinoma;
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/...
cervical carcinoma;
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/...
There were other studies cited on the same page, but whose links were not active (or quick for me to access), they were all found towards the bottom of the page;
http://www.norml.org/...
"Be excellent to each other"-Bill & Ted