Cannabis Helps - Tumors

A small body of research indicates that cannabinoids may help protect against the development of certain types of tumors. One study examined the effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), delta-8-THC, and cannabinol (CBN) on cancer cells in mice lungs. Researchers reported that cannabinoids reduced the size of the tumors by 25 to 82 percent, depending on dose and duration of treatment, with a corresponding increase in survival time. (1). A two year federal study by the U.S. National Toxicology Program found that mice and rats given high doses of THC over long periods of time appeared to have greater protection against malignancies than untreated controls. Researchers concluded that in both mice and rats, "the incidence of benign and malignant neoplasms … were decreased in a dose dependent manner." (2,3) Dr. Lester Grinspoon writes in Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine (with James Bakalar) that other animal studies also suggest that some cannabinoids have tumor-reducing properties. (4)

An Italian research team reported in 1998 that the endocannabinoid anandamide, which binds to the same brain receptors as cannabis, "potently and selectively inhibits the proliferation of human breast cancer cells in vitro" by interfering with their DNA production cycle. (5,6) Non-mammary tumor cells were not affected by anandamide. Clearly, further research is necessary and appropriate.