Category Archives: Basal-cell carcinoma (BCC)

Cannabis Ingredient Can Help Cancer Patients Regain Their Appetites And Sense Of Taste

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“The active ingredient in cannabis can improve the appetites and sense of taste in cancer patients, according to a new study published online in the cancer journal, Annals of Oncology  today.

Loss of appetite is common among cancer patients, either because the cancer itself or its treatment affects the sense of taste and smell, leading to decreased enjoyment of food. This, in turn, can lead to weight loss, anorexia, a worse quality of life and decreased survival; therefore, finding effective ways of helping patients to maintain a good diet and consume enough calories is an important aspect of their treatment.

The majority of THC-treated patients (64%) had increased appetite, three patients (27%) showed no change, and one patient’s data was incomplete. No THC-treated patients showed a decrease in appetite. By contrast, the majority of patients receiving placebo had either decreased appetite (50%) or showed no change (20%).

Although there was no difference in the total number of calories consumed by both groups, the THC-treated patients tended to increase the proportion of protein that they ate, and 55% reported that savoury foods tasted better, whereas no patients in the placebo group reported an increased liking for these foods. (Cancer patients often find that meat smells and tastes unpleasant and, therefore, they eat less of it).

In addition, THC-treated patients reported better quality of sleep and relaxation than in the placebo group.”

More:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/217062.php

“Miracle” Cannabis Oil: May Treat Cancer, But Money and the Law Stand in the Way of Finding Out

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“Cannabis oil, which cancer-sufferers credit with saving their lives, and which is supposedly useful in healing other ailments, from diabetes to skin rashes, is made by distilling raw bud down to its essential ingredients.”

 

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“First it was a cough. Then it was bronchitis. Then it was time to say goodbye to Michelle Aldrich.

The year 2011 was supposed to be a good one for the 66-year-old. That June, she and her husband, Michael, were feted with a lifetime achievement award by High Times magazine for their four decades of work on marijuana legalization. Yet something was off. She was smoking a lot, maybe more than ever.

And she couldn’t get high.

In the fall of that year — a bad time for the local marijuana movement, as the federal Justice Department began shutting down hundreds of California medical cannabis dispensaries — Aldrich went in to see a series of doctors for what she thought was a flu that just refused to go away.

After six weeks of progressively worse diagnoses — flu became bronchitis, which became pneumonia — a CT scan revealed the cause behind the “heat” she felt in the middle of her chest. A tumor, “poorly-differentiated non-small cell adenocarcinoma.” In other words, stage 3 lung cancer.

Lung cancer is a killer, with nearly 70 percent of new cases resulting in deaths, according to statistics published by the National Cancer Institute. “I thought I was going to die,” Aldrich says from her Marina District apartment. But she didn’t. And now, she is busy telling anyone who will listen that, along with diet and chemotherapy, a concoction of highly concentrated cannabis oil eliminated her cancer in less than four months.”

More: http://www.sfweekly.com/2013-04-24/news/key-words-cannabis-oil-cure-cancer-constance-finley/full/

Fighting Cancer: Another Study Reveals the Cannabis and Cancer Prevention Link

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“Does marijuana cause cancer? Revealing the link between cannabis and cancer yet again, researchers with the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco have released findings that further bolster cannabis as an anti-cancer solution.
The researchers have found a compound in the much-talked-about plant could “halt the spread” of many types of aggressive cancers, including breast cancer.

The Cannabis and Cancer Link

Cannabidiol is the compound, and while it fights cancer cells, it does not produce the high feelings commonly associated with cannabis. Instead, it seems to “switch off” the gene responsible for metastasizing breast cancer.

They reportedly found the compound doesn’t only stop the breast cancer cells from growing, but even causes them to return back to normal cells, cancer-free.”

More: http://naturalsociety.com/study-positive-cannabis-and-cancer-link/

Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer

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“New research shows here seems to be something in pot that actually undermines cancer, instead of causing it. — and the media are doing their best to ignore it.
 
There is a groundswell of attention in the news to marijuana’s role in causing and preventing various types of cancers. Last week, AlterNet published an article from the Marijuana Policy Project about a new study finding that pot smokers have a lower risk of head and neck cancers than people who don’t smoke pot…
 
Smoking pot doesn’t cause lung cancer. In fact, the study found that cigarette smokers who also smoked marijuana were at a lower risk of contracting lung cancer than tobacco-only smokers…
 

You’d think it would have been very big news in June 2005 when UCLA medical school professor Donald Tashkin reported that components of marijuana smoke somehow prevent them from becoming malignant.

 In other words, something in marijuana exerts an anti-cancer effect!”

More:http://www.alternet.org/story/142271/smoking_marijuana_does_not_cause_lung_cancer

Marijuana Unlikely to Cause Head, Neck, or Lung Cancer – WebMD

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“Marijuana, unlike tobacco and alcohol, does not appear to cause head, neck, or lung cancer, says a researcher from Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore who presented findings from a study here recently at a meeting of internal medicine physicians.

There has been an ongoing debate about whether marijuana is as dangerous as tobacco in terms of cancer development. Daniel E. Ford, MD, tried to sort out the evidence by the lifestyles — including marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol use — of 164 persons who were newly diagnosed with head, neck, or lung cancer compared to a group of 526 healthy persons living in the same area. The average age of patients was 49, while the average age of the healthy volunteers was 44. The cancer patients were all treated at four Baltimore-area hospitals, and the “controls” (healthy comparison group) were selected from a large group of people living in the Baltimore area who had been participating in an ongoing study. Ford tells WebMD that he wanted to find out whether the cancer patients were more likely to smoke marijuana or tobacco or to drink than were the healthy volunteers.

According to Ford, he thought he would find an association between marijuana use and cancer, but “that the association would fall away when we corrected for tobacco use. That was not the case. The association was never there.” And that surprised him because of the way marijuana is smoked: deep inhalations, with the smoke held in for effect. “It seemed natural that there would be some connection,” he tells WebMD.

Based on these findings, Ford says that cancer prevention efforts should “remain focused on tobacco and alcohol, two known carcinogens.””

More: http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20000508/marijuana-unlikely-to-cause-cancer

Update from WebMD:

“Pot Smoking Not Linked to Lung Cancer

Study Shows No Increased Risk for Even the Heaviest Marijuana Smokers.
 
People who smoke marijuana do not appear to be at increased risk for developing lung cancer, new research suggests.While a clear increase in cancercancer risk was seen among cigarette smokers in the study, no such association was seen for regular cannabis users.Even very heavy, long-term marijuana users who had smoked more than 22,000 joints over a lifetime seemed to have no greater risk than infrequent marijuana users or nonusers.”

More: http://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/news/20060523/pot-smoking-not-linked-to-lung-cancer

Medical Marijuana Inc Announces Positive Developments in Recent Studies Using Cannabidiol (CBD) Compound; NBC News, ABC News and Huffington Post Report California Pacific Medical Center’s Findings That CBD Stops Metastasis in Aggressive Cancers – The Wall Street Journal

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“Medical Marijuana Inc Announces Positive Developments in Recent Studies Using Cannabidiol (CBD) Compound; NBC News, ABC News and Huffington Post Report California Pacific Medical Center’s Findings That CBD Stops Metastasis in Aggressive Cancers

SAN DIEGO, May 28, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Medical Marijuana Inc (OTC Pink:MJNA) is pleased to inform shareholders and the general public of recent developments in the research involving Cannabidiol (CBD) and other Phyto-cannabinoids.

The Following is taken from a Huffington Post interview with Dr. McAllister and Dr. Desprez:

A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

“It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited,” said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. “We want to get started with trials as soon as possible.”

The Daily Beast first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

Desprez, a molecular biologist, spent decades studying ID-1, the gene that causes cancer to spread. Meanwhile, fellow researcher Sean McAllister was studying the effects of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant. Finally, the pair collaborated, combining CBD and cells containing high levels of ID-1 in a petri dish.

“What we found was that his Cannabidiol could essentially ‘turn off’ the ID-1,” Desprez told HuffPost. The cells stopped spreading and returned to normal.

“We likely would not have found this on our own,” he added. “That’s why collaboration is so essential to scientific discovery.”

Desprez and McAllister first published a paper about the finding in 2007. Since then, their team has found that CBD works both in the lab and in animals. And now, they’ve found even more good news.

“We started by researching breast cancer,” said Desprez. “But now we’ve found that Cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers–brain, prostate–any kind in which these high levels of ID-1 are present.”

Desprez hopes that clinical trials will begin immediately.

“We’ve found no toxicity in the animals we’ve tested, and Cannabidiol is already used in humans for a variety of other ailments,” he said. Indeed, the compound is used to relieve anxiety and nausea, and, since it is non-psychoactive, does not cause the “high” associated with THC.

While marijuana advocates will surely praise the discovery, Desprez explained that it’s not so easy as just lighting up.

“We used injections in the animal testing and are also testing pills,” he said. “But you could never get enough Cannabidiol for it to be effective just from smoking.”

Additional Information:

Dr. McAllister & CBD Research

Dr. Sean McAllister says that he is ready to begin testing CBD on humans to evaluate anti-cancer properties. Dr. McAllister and colleague Pierre Desprez, PhD from California Pacific Medical Center have previously mentioned, “Cannabidiol offers hope of a non-toxic therapy that could treat aggressive forms of cancer without any of the painful side effects of chemotherapy.” “We found that this one compound, CBD, had a specific effect on metastatic cancer cells, very aggressive tumor cells. CBD in animal studies has been used to ‘switch off’ a specific gene regulator.” Dr. McAllister explains: “We find when you treat with CBD, you down regulate the expression of this protein and that inhibits the disease process.” Dr. McAllister and Dr. Desprez have developed a synthetic version of CBD, which they say targets a specific gene in the body related to the spread of cancer (metastasis). Article: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=9057615

Additional Cannabidiol Information

ABC News-

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=9057615

Huffington Post-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/marijuana-and-cancer_n_1898208. html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=Weird%20News

US. National Cancer Institute

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/healthprofessional/p age4

Additional Dr. McAllister Publications

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Sean%20McAllister

Additional Published Material on Cannabidiol (CBD)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gquery/?term=CANNABIDIOL”

More: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130528-906109.html

Marijuana mouth spray for cancer patients tough to abuse – NBC

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“The medical marijuana drug Sativex, which could be approved in the United States in the coming years as a treatment for pain relief, has little potential for abuse, experts say.

The British pharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals is currently testing the drug, which is delivered as a mouth spray and called Sativex, in clinical trials. The company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the drug as a treatment for cancer pain when the trials are completed, likely sometime in 2014, a spokesperson for GW Pharmaceuticals told MyHealthNewsDaily.

The active ingredients in Sativex, known as cannabinoids, are derived from the cannabis plant. It is the first marijuana-based drug to be made by extracting the compounds from the plant, rather than synthesizing them. Two other drugs, Marinol and Cesamet, based on synthetic cannabinoids, were approved by the FDA in the 1980s.”

More: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/01/31/10280678-marijuana-mouth-spray-for-cancer-patients-tough-to-abuse?lite

Cannabis Science Reports Cancer Tumors Continues to Shrink and Die as Apparent Pieces of the Dying Cancer Tumors Begin to Fall off as Evidenced in Newest Photos of the 3rd Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patient

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“Cannabis Science, Inc. a pioneering U.S. biotech company developing pharmaceutical cannabis (marijuana) products, is pleased to release new updated photos from the 3rd cancer patient self-administering cannabis extracts. This patient has severe squamous cell carcinoma on their head that was resistant to chemo and radiation therapy, which left the patient with large tumor masses on their head. With these new photo updates you can see the drastic change in appearance of the tumors and how the topical cannabis extract is killing them. 

Cannabis Science has been working very closely with this patient and is continuing to see vast improvement to his treatment resistant squamous cell carcinoma. Prior to using cannabis-based extracts this patient had received radiation and chemotherapy for his condition. This patient notices a huge difference between the treatments and had stated, “While on radiation treatments, each day was stressful and after each treatment I felt horrible as if my entire body was dying organ by organ. While using the Oil, I have noticed that my overall health seems much better. I sleep the recommended hours, unlike the insomnia I suffered while on radiation, and unlike the radiation that caused the restless sleep and nightmares, on the Oil I sleep like a baby.” The patient also mentioned that while showering they would see bits and pieces of the tumor falling off with the water as he was cleaning his head.

This patient is very pleased with the results of the topical cannabis extract so far and said he enjoyed absolutely nothing about radiation and felt constantly sick and just overall unhealthy, but with using the oil he said, “I feel myself being restored, not tortured.””

More: http://www.drugs.com/clinical_trials/cannabis-science-reports-cancer-tumors-continues-shrink-die-apparent-pieces-dying-cancer-tumors-13168.html

Cannabis says success in 4th brand new self-administering cancer patient

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“Cannabis Science Inc., a pioneering US biotech company developing pharmaceutical cannabis (marijuana) products, has introduced 4th cancer patient with basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer) on his left nostril, who is self-administering a topical cannabis extract and having noticeable results.

Cannabis Science has received images and documented information from this 4th patient who has basal cell carcinoma on his left nostril. The patient is enrolled in a photographic mole-mapping programme at the University of Colorado Hospital and is examined annually. The last time he was examined was in October of 2011, where his doctors found a small bump on his left nostril that was less and 1/8″ in diameter, and believed it to be basal cell carcinoma. At that time it was too early to be certain if it was in-fact basal cell carcinoma.

By January 2012 the small bump on his left nostril had grown slightly and had developed a rough scaly texture similar to his previous episodes of basal cell carcinoma. The patient began self-administering cannabis extract oil (CT-1) topically to the spot on his left nostril in the middle of January. The patient immediately reported minor irritation of the spot but that the surrounding healthy skin was not irritated. The rough scaly texture and the minor irritation disappeared by day four of treatment and by day nine of treatment the bump had shrunk considerably and was almost imperceptible to the touch. In these three images you can notice a significant reduction in the lesion.

This patient has a history of having five different episodes of basal cell carcinoma starting at the age of 27, and had one malignant melanoma at age 35. He is now 46, and has suffered from numerous severe sunburns which caused blistering and peeling. This patient was diagnosed with dysplastic nevus syndrome (over 100 atypical moles) and has been told that he is certain to have additional melanomas at some point in the future. Doctors have already confirmed that he has had basal cell carcinoma on his right jaw line, which resulted to Mohs procedure that was performed in December of 2011.

Cannabis Science, Inc. is at the forefront of pharmaceutical grade medical marijuana research and development. The second formulations will address the needs of patients choosing to use concentrated cannabis extracts to treat their ailments.

 Eventually, all Americans will have access to a safe and effective FDA approved medicine regardless of which state they live in.”

http://pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=67354&sid=2 

Physician’s documentation confirms successful treatment of basal cell carcinoma with topical cannabis extract

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“We are pleased to announce that we have physician’s documentation that confirms the successful treatment of basal cell carcinoma that resulted from the application of a topical cannabis extract.” 

Currently, there is a tremendous amount of controversy with respect to the effects that cannabinoids have on cancers. Endocannabinoids, phytocannabinoids, and synthetic cannabinoids have demonstrated cancer killing and anti-metastatic properties in tissue culture and in animal models.

While formal, proper, FDA approved clinical trials that would prove or disprove the therapeutic potential of cannabis extracts for treating cancers; trials have not been carried out. Nevertheless, a significant number of anecdotal observations have accumulated that suggest people suffering from a variety of cancers appear to have been cured by ingesting what is known as “Rick Simpson’s hemp oil”.”

More: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110407/Physicians-documentation-confirms-successful-treatment-of-basal-cell-carcinoma-with-topical-cannabis-extract.aspx