Cannabis Compound Said To "Halt Cancer"

h.ross.perot informs us of research out of the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute suggesting that a compound found in cannabis may stop breast cancer from metastasizing. Cannabidiol, or CBD, could develop into a non-toxic alternative to chemotherapy some years down the road, if animal and human trials bear out its effectiveness. The article notes that smoking cannabis will not deliver significant quantities of CBD.

Comments

Chemotherapy

[morgan_greywolf]

Um, using a cannabis-derived compound isn't an alternative to chemotherapy, it is chemotherapy, which literally means "treatment with chemicals." Just because a bunch of people have screwed up the meaning of the word like they did with 'hacker' vs. 'cracker', that doesn't make it right.

Re:Chemotherapy

[Anonymous Coward]

Words are tools of communication, used by people to make their ideas/feelings understood. It doesn't matter what they used to mean. Languages are alive. They change all the time. I'd say "it's useless trying to resist the change", but that would imply this change is an unfortunate event, that one would avoid if it were possible. This is simply not the case.

If people want to say "hacker" to communicate the concept formerly known as "cracker", so what? And if "chemotherapy" were to mean "any medical treatment using chemicals", it would be a very useless concept indeed.

It's like those idiots who insist that someone who hates Arabs is, technically, an "antisemite". Because Arabs are a Semitic people. That's bullshit, okay? Alice uses word XYZ to transmit a message to Bob. Alice knows what she means by XYZ. Bob knows what is meant by XYZ. You, the parent poster, know what is meant by XYZ. Why are you even taking the time to say that XYZ used to mean something else, or that XYZ could possibly mean something else in a different context, or that XYZ would mean something else if one were to look at X, Y and Z separately? Why do you do that? Just shut up already.

Words are not holy. Words are what we want them to be. I should know, linguistics are my fucking job. What you're doing is known as prescriptive linguistics, and it's only jutified when learning a new language. When you're a native speaker of a language, the only way to approach it is through descriptive linguistics. Look it up.

What form of Cannabidiol

[Merls the Sneaky]

THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol would certainly have cannabidiol as part of its compound. Does it break down into cannabinol after time? THC is certainly the compound that gets you high.

They say that smoking it would not yield much cannabinol. What of long time marijuana users, surely they would have build up cannabinol in their bodies.

unpatentable: don't hold your breath

[spectrokid]

Cuban medicine has shown for years that mother nature provides all kinds of wonderful molecules for free. They even have a bio-version of Viagra. Problem is these things are not patentable. So a large medicinal company has to spend tons of money on trials and FDA approval, and the very next day half a dozen competitors can throw a "me too" version on the market without incurring those costs. Sorry for you if you have cancer, but don't hold your breath 'cause it ain't gonna happen.

Re:This comes up every few years

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, and it works better for those of us with bipolar disorder that have a resistance to everything except it, and olanzapine... Try a few weeks on olanzapine... Pot leaves you far less loopy, and controls rage better... And doesn't have the horrible side effect of rapid weight gain, the tremors, or the migraines. I am a lot happier since I got my medicinal marijuana prescription.

Natural Selection....

[BytePusher]

Just a thought, but I wonder if it could be possible that humans are genetically disposed to loving cannabis? It has been a commonly used plant for a long, long time. The seeds have been used as food and seem to have the perfect balance of essential fats. Now it seems we've discovered it suppresses certain forms of common cancer. Certainly, there are people who abuse themselves with it, but maybe we want them to. In my experience, the people who overuse pot are the same people who have trouble restraining many of their impulses. One of my room mates seemed to actually became a human when he was high... otherwise he was intolerable. By taking these people's pot away, we don't make them better people, just angrier.

Another thing to note is that, while cannabis is illegal now, if we are genetically disposed to love it, cannabis will win the legal battle eventually no matter what the logic for it's legalization is. People legalize things they love and suppress the things they hate ignoring all logic in the process. You can't fight your nature. :)

Re:I volunteer

[twistedsymphony]

So why is it illegal?

The official reason why it was banned in the first place: [African American]s' satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.

...Something tells me that excuse wouldn't hold up today.

hard to estimate doseage...

[holysin]

It's just really hard to estimate doseage. As it all depends on the quality of the herb, the effects the user wants, etc. Personally I'm a fan of chronic olive oil (VICS has a good recipe). Basically, experiment with what you have and see what works for you. Some people swear by using "vapour poo" for making olive oil/butter. Others grow their own and chop up the male plants for making butter/oil.

Generally speaking, don't just sprinkle herb on your food unless you have a high tolerance for food that tastes strongly of pot (yuck). Making olive oil (or corn oil, whatever oil you want really) is the easiest method for most people to have some good thc laced treats, and it makes some damn good enchiladas/pasta :) Butter is a bit harder to make (majorly labour intensive) but you can end up with a killer batch of brownies that last a long time due to the potency (the freezer is your friend). One note, eating cannabis is very different from smoking it, you can easily eat too much, and sadly, you can't un-eat it. So start slow, and give it an hr or two before trying another piece of cake/whatever. Note: I'm not advocating you break the law of wherever you live, I'm just giving suggestions so if you do ingest cannabis you'll do so with your eyes open, and maybe won't run into oncoming traffic.

If you're really experimental there are ways to infuse thc into alchohal for use at clubs and places where using "breath drops" would be acceptable. But that is even more of a headache than making butter. Search for "cannabis tincture" if you're so inclined. If you live in SoCal and are a MMJ patient you can buy cannabis oil, cannabis tincture, and other assorted ready made foods from your local MMJ dispensary. YMMV.

Re:we need socialized medicine - universal healthc

[pedestrian crossing]

I tell you what, I'll vote for a socialized health-care system if you volunteer you and yours to always lose the treatment lotto for cancer patients.

And how is that different than the current system? You are already "playing the lotto" that your HMO won't declare your cancer "a pre-existing condition" or the treatment that you need is "experimental".

What good is a cure for cancer if your HMO won't pay for it and you can't afford it?

Re:I volunteer

[twistedsymphony]

I read a proposal at one point that said all laws would have a natural time limit based on the % of of the vote. That would not only require past laws to be re-evaluated but also give congress something useful to do instead of passing new law after new law just to keep themselves busy.

It was something along the lines of 51% of the vote=2 years before re-eval, 65% of the vote =4 years before re-eval, 80% of the vote = 8 years before re-eval, unanimous=permanent unless some new law overturns it.