According to an article in The Daily Beast by Martin A Lee, marijuana fights cancer and helps manage side effects. Cristina Sanchez at Complutense University in Madrid was studying cell metabolism and had been screening brain cancer cells because they grow faster than normal cells when she noticed that the cancer cells that were exposed to THC (tetrahydrocanabinol) the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana the cancer cells died. In 1998 she reported her findings in Q Sensei Scholar a European biochemistry journal that THC “induces apoptosis in C6 glioma cells” an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Subsequent peer-reviewed studies in several counties have shown that THC and other cannabinoids are effective not only in treating cancer treatment symptoms such as nausea, pain, loss of appetite and fatigue, they also have a direct antitumoral effect. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aLRKiCeoXoRQ
A team of Spanish scientists led by Manuel Guzman conducted the first clinical trial assessing the antitumoral action of THC on human beings. Nine patients who had failed to respond to traditional treatment were administered pure THC via catheter directly into the glioblastoma tumors. The THC significantly reduced cell proliferation in all cases. http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v95/n2/abs/6603236a.html
Also a study by Harvard University scientists reported that THC slows tumor growth in common lung cancer and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread. It is also noted that the THC targets only the tumor cells and leaves healthy cells unharmed. Conventional chemotherapy drugs are indiscriminately toxic to all cells good and bad. https://webmail.iac.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=xXJCNmUHZEOunAel7Z7wwa4Xo95oX88IHxulyb1Ju4OgmVcMxaSKBx-ixJjswmu1pYyaPUF5hkU.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.nature.com%2fbjc%2fjournal%2fv95%2fn2%2fabs%2f6603236a.html
Mounting evidence reported in Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry shows that cannabinoids represent a new class of anti-cancer drugs that retard cancer growth, inhibit angiogenesis (the formation of blood vessels that feed a tumor) and the metastatic spreading of cancer cells. http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/11/18/fda-revokes-breast-cancer-drug.html
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Dr Sean McAllister a scientist at the Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco backed by grants for cancer treatment research by the National Institute of Health and licensed by the DEA has determined that CBD a non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana is a potent inhibitor of breast cancer cell proliferation, metastasis, and tumor growth. It seems to work by turning off expression of the ID-1 gene. The ID-1 gene is important in embryonic development after which it shuts off. In breast cancer and dozens of other cancers this ID-1 gene expression is turned on again. Dr McAllister postulates that CBD by its ability to silence ID-1 expression, could be a breakthrough anti-cancer medication. His research has also shown that CBD acts synergistically with various anti-cancer pharmaceuticals by enhancing their impact while reducing the toxic dosage necessary for maximum effect. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18025276
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/22/in-marijuana-legalization-hard-truths-for-all-sides-of-the-debate.html
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Investigators at St George’s University in London observed similar findings with THC which magnified traditional antileukemia therapies in preclinical studies. THC and CBD both induce apoptosis in leukemia cell lines.
At the annual summer conference of the International Cannabinoid Research Society held in Freiburg, Germany, 300 scientists from around the world met and discussed their latest findings showing the curative properties of THC and other cannabinoids in treating cancers and other degenerating diseases. Italian investigators described CBD as “the most efficacious inducer of apoptosis” in prostate cancer. British researchers at Lancaster University claimed similar results with colon cancer.

Growing and hard to ignore evidence shows that marijuana has a place in modern medicine and our governments steadfast refusal to accept any evidence indicating palliative or curative effects from the use of marijuana is akin to an ostrich sticking its head in the sand.
I urge you to call or write to your Congressmen and Senators and the President of these United States and tell them to either support medical marijuana research or just get the hell out of the way. To deny the sick and dying those things that make life a little easier and ease their suffering is nothing short of barbaric.

Randy Johnson
itsmycountrytoo.org