Now this
really is a mixed blessing.
On the one
hand, I’m thrilled to see that a study
documenting the anti-cancer properties of cannabinoids is finally
receiving some mainstream
media attention.
On the other
hand, I’m disappointed that its coverage is limited to a
British tabloid that is better known for running anti-pot propaganda
like this:
Cannabis
killer knifed neighbour 100 times via Metro.co.uk
A mentally
ill man driven to violent frenzies by cannabis was sentenced
to life yesterday for stabbing a man 100 times.
…
Kashmiri, 50, of Tooting, south London, sexually assaulted the
woman at her south London home in June, 2006, and returned five
nights later to attack her.
…
Kashmiri, whose violent episodes are triggered by cannabis,
denied murder but admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
Of course,
I’m accustomed to reading “Reefer Madness” in the
British press.
But I’m
less accustomed to reading “Reefer Madness” when it
comes from the mouth of an established
medi-pot researcher like Dr. Wai Man Liu.
Cannabis
may help the war on cancer via Metro.co.uk
Cannabis
could be used to treat many forms of cancer, new research suggests.
The drug
contains an ingredient which slows tumour growth and prevents
the reproduction of cancer cells, doctors say.
Its effects
are seen in all cancers but particularly in those of the lung
and brain, and leukaemia, it is claimed.
But
scientists warned against smoking the drug, saying the only
safe version was that created in the lab.
Researcher
Dr Wai Man Liu said: ‘I’m in no way encouraging
people to take up smoking the ganja – there would be more
harm than good.’
Previous
research has shown cannabis-based medicines can help cancer
patients as a painkiller, appetite stimulant and in reducing
nausea.
The drug
has also long been used by multiple sclerosis and arthritis
sufferers to reduce pain.
Its medicinal
benefits come from the main active ingredient, THC. The latest
research, by St George’s University of London, shows that
THC can weaken cancer cells to make traditional chemotherapy
more effective.
Dr Liu
said: ‘It’s another weapon against the armour of cancer.
We are quite close but need to jump through certain hoops. I
believe it could be used in two to three years.’
Dr Joanna
Owens, from Cancer Research UK, said the latest studies were
encouraging but needed to be followed up with more trials. She
added: ‘Making cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy
or radiotherapy is a great concept but it is still early days.’
Having recently
lost friends and family members to cancer, including one to leukemia,
I can inform Dr. Liu that such a diagnosis – even when treated
with standard radiation and chemotherapy – is a death sentence.
For Dr. Liu to advise, with a straight face no less, that these
patients would do “more harm than good” by smoking cannabis
is a disgrace. Not only can cannabis alleviate cancer patients’
nausea
and pain,
elevate
their mood, and increase
their appetite, but also – as Dr. Liu’s own data
demonstrates – it may help to alleviate
the very disease that’s ravaging their bodies. Nevertheless,
I suppose that Dr. Liu would rather have these patients shut up
and die than expose the political hypocrisy surrounding criminalizing
a plant.
Finally,
as for Dr. Liu’s idyllic estimate that his pharmaceutically-approved
pot-based anti-cancer drugs will be available in “two to
three years,” don’t hold your breath (or, if you already
have cancer, try not to die in the interim). I’m sure that
these investigators
made similar proclamations when they documented pot’s anti-cancer
properties – in 1975!
Yet here
we are 33 years later and the only “progress” we’ve made on this
issue is in the wrong direction – having moved from investigating
the plant’s anti-cancer potential in animals to cells in
vitro in a petri dish! Thank you Dr. Liu; now kindly get out
of my sight.
