Although the natural health community has long known about the benefits of Cannabis, Western medicine has only recently been dipping its toes into the plentiful waters of possibility.
Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers
Back in 1998 Cristina Sanchez, a biologist at Complutense University in Madrid, was studying cell metabolism when something peculiar happened while screening brain cancer cells; the cancer cells died each time they were exposed to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive ingredient of marijuana. This discovery lead to laboratory trials in animals and is currently awaiting trials in humans as well, but it seems Cristina wasn’t the only one studying this wonder plant.
After 20 years of research, a pair of scientists from California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, “has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.”
Pierre Desprez, a molecular biologist, and Sean McAllister collaborated and found that Cannabidoil, called CBD- a non-toxic and non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant, is able to turn off the spread of cancer and allow cells to return to normal.
Desprez had spent decades studying ID-1, the gene that causes cancer to spread, while McAllister was studying Cannabidiol. During their collaboration they found that putting CBD in a petri dish containing cells with high levels of ID-1 allowed the cells to “turn off the ID-1”.
The two researchers published a paper about their finding in 2007. Their team has found that CBD works both in the lab and in animals and now they’ve found even more good news; Cannabidoil works with many kinds of aggressive cancers, including brain and prostate. Desprez hopes that clinical trials will be able to begin immediately.
“We’ve found no toxicity in the animals we’ve tested, and Cannabidiol is already used in humans for a variety of other ailments,” he said. Indeed, the compound is used to relieve anxiety and nausea, and, since it is non-psychoactive, does not cause the “high” associated with THC.
We used injections in the animal testing and are also testing pills,” he said. “But you could never get enough Cannabidiol for it to be effective just from smoking.”
Their team has started synthesizing the compound in the lab, instead of using the plant, in the hopes that they can make it more potent.
Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to have proof the FDA can’t ignore, stating that a plant is able to stop the growth of cancer cells, all the while keeping the patient in a better state of health? Can you imagine what it would be like to not view cancer treatment as a terrifying, life threatening poison?
We will be watching this story as it unfolds and wish the collaborators well in their (hopeful) clinical trials.
