May 20 2009
Marijuana, Curing Cancer Since 1975
Marijuana, weed, pot, mj, mary jane, and ganja are all different names for the same thing. Since before I was born, the government has been using television, radio, and school systems to convince young people that marijuana is bad for you. Well, I’m an adult now and I have been doing my own research.
In 1997, the US Veterans Affairs Scientists were researching how using marijuana affects teens. According to their research, “Marijuana use had no significant impact on physical or mental health care utilization, health-related quality of life, or current socio-demographic characteristics.“ Basically, it didn’t hurt them.
Now that we have established that marijuana is not harmful, let’s move on to it’s benefits. Many marijuana users I have spoken to claim marijuana relieves headaches, back and joint pain, and stomach aches. A few people have claimed that when they are overly stressed about something, if they smoke marijuana, they calm down and can focus better on the situation at hand.
In 1975, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the findings of federal researchers that were studying the effects of THC in cancer induced lab rats. They found that the THC, found in marijuana, significantly reduced the size of tumors and prolonged the rats’ lives. In 1994, similar research was completed with the same results.
So, let’s move from rats to humans. In 1997, government researchers, that had been following 65,000 cigarette smokers, marijuana smokers, and non-smokers for nearly 10 years, concluded that the lung cancer rate in marijuana smokers was actually LOWER than that of non-smokers. Again, in May 2006, Donald Tashkin was doing research for the government and found that heavy marijuana users have a lower risk of lung cancer.
Want more recent research? The May 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation (www.jci.org) has an article called, “Active Component in Marijuana has Anti-Cancer Effects.” After fishing through a lot of medical jargon, you’ll find that that this article states, “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.” That is the last sentence in the “abstract.”
So, there is still hope for a cure for cancer. Why didn’t this make the front page of every newspaper in the United States? I’ve spent my whole life listening to people tell me how bad marijuana is. When I want to know why it is so bad, I find medical research that shows marijuana is not bad at all. In fact, it’s a medical miracle provided by God in a very natural plant. Yet, the majority of people ignore it because it’s considered a “dangerous drug.” Well, I tell you what. You watch someone close to you go through chemotherapy and radiation, then compare the physical dangers of that to the “dangers” of marijuana. When you are done, tell me which you would prefer.
