21 Nov Marijuana: Positive Impact on Aggressive Brain Cancer
Timing is everything. In a country becoming increasingly accepting of cannabis in general, this article by Carly Schwartz in the Huff Post, “Marijuana Drastically Shrinks Aggressive Form of Brain Cancer, New Study Finds,” points out another reason to increase our understanding of and embrace the potential of weed in certain very specific contexts, yes, including recreational, but definitely medical.
View of a marijuana plant, part of the weed plantation with 18,000 plants who has been found in a forest, near the German border, in Reuver, The Netherlands, on August 26, 2014. The street value of 18,000 plants fluctuates around 20 million euros. (Photo credit, MARCEL VAN HOORN/AFP/Getty Images)
Over the past few years, research has revealed that marijuana can both destroy certain cancer cells and reduce the growth of others. Now, a new study in mice has found that when combined with radiation treatment, cannabis can effectively shrink one of the most aggressive types of brain tumors.
In a paper published Friday in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapies, a team of researchers from St. George’s University of London outlined the “dramatic reductions” they observed in high-grade glioma masses, a deadly form of brain cancer, when treated with a combination of radiation and two different marijuana compounds, also known as cannabinoids. In many cases, those tumors shrunk to as low as one-tenth the sizes of those in the control group.
“We’ve shown that cannabinoids could play a role in treating one of the most aggressive cancers in adults,” Dr. Wai Liu, one of the study’s lead authors, wrote in an op-ed earlier this week. “The results are promising…it could provide a way of breaking through glioma and saving more lives.”
In an email to The Huffington Post, Liu pointed out that while research surrounding marijuana’s cancer-fighting properties is nothing new…
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