At Clomputense University in Spain, brain cancer was successfully treated with THC, one of the active ingredients found in cannabis. The cancer cells essentially digest themselves when fed THC. The wonderful find is that not only do the cancer cells digest themselves, but the THC also does not cause damage to surrounding tissue.
The type of cancer cells that were treated were glioblastoma muliforme, which are highly aggressive brain tumors.
The findings appear in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
This study along with many others shows that cannabis is not only treating the symptoms of cancer such as nausea, appetite and sleep, but can also be used to actually treat the cancer itself. While the findings of the study indicate that THC was responsible for killing brain cancer cells, one has to remember that there are wide fluctuations in the amount of THC in marijuana. And for those people who live in an area where no medical marijuana is available, they may be getting marijuana with much lower percentages of THC.
The Federal Govt. provides cannabis patients with pre-rolled joints that contain 10% THC, which is considered low. However the THC level in most strains of medical marijuana is anywhere from 10-25%. The thing about the live plant is that there are other active compounds that have been found to be beneficial as well. One which looks very promising is CBD. It is impossible to know how all these compounds interact in nature when using only one in a study. Regardless, THC has been shown to precipitate the Death of Brain Cancer cells, which certainly goes way beyond the happy, hungry, sleepy effects cannabis known for.
