Category Archives: Brain Cancer

Extremely low doses of THC protect the brain from long-term cognitive damage

Posted on by
Reply

“Conditioning the brain. Extremely low doses of marijuana’s psychoactive component protect brain before and after injury, says Tel Aviv University researcher.

While performing experiments on the biology of cannabis, Prof. Sarne and his fellow researchers discovered that low doses of the drug had a big impact on cell signalling, preventing cell death and promoting growth factors. This finding led to a series of experiments designed to test the neuroprotective ability of THC in response to various brain injuries.

In the lab, the researchers injected mice with a single low dose of THC either before or after exposing them to brain trauma. A control group of mice sustained brain injury but did not receive the THC treatment. When the mice were examined 3 to 7 weeks after initial injury, recipients of the THC treatment performed better in behavioral tests measuring learning and memory. Additionally, biochemical studies showed heightened amounts of neuroprotective chemicals in the treatment group compared to the control group.”

More: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130531/Extremely-low-doses-of-THC-protect-the-brain-from-long-term-cognitive-damage.aspx

Cognitive damage halted by THC in marijuana, Israeli reseachers discover

Posted on by
Reply
“Marijuana is a well-known recreational drug with much of its notoriety and controversy arise from its use as a psychoactive drug, however, scientific research into the therapeutic value has increased within the last 10 years revealing cannabis’ remarkable capability to combat disease.”
 
Medical Marijuana  
 
 

Medical marijuana ingredient prevents brain damage in mice

Posted on by
Reply
“An Israeli researcher has found that tiny doses of the psychoactive chemical in marijuana helps the brain of mice combat injury.”

A medical marijuana plant grows in a dispensary in Seattle.

“The words “marijuana” and “brain damage” usually go in that order in medical literature. An Israeli researcher has flipped them around, finding that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, may arrest some forms of brain damage in mice.

The loco weed already is favored by those who suffer from chronic diseases, not to mention fans of Cypress Hill, Bob Marley and the Grateful Dead.

But pharmacologist Josef Sarne of Tel Aviv University found that a minuscule amount of tetrahydrocannabinol may protect the brain after injuries from seizures, toxic drug exposure or a lack of oxygen.”

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-medical-marijuana-brain-damage-20130530,0,1781822.story

Marijuana component can halt brain damage

Posted on by
Reply

“Extremely low doses of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, protects the brain from long-term cognitive damage in case of injury from hypoxia (lack of oxygen), seizures, or toxic drugs, a new study has claimed.

Medical cannabis is often used by sufferers of chronic ailments, including cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder, to combat pain, insomnia, lack of appetite, and other symptoms.

Now, Professor Yosef Sarne of Tel Aviv University’s Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine in US found the drug has neuroprotective qualities as well.

Previous studies focused on injecting high doses of THC within a very short time frame approximately 30 minutes before or after injury.

Sarne’s current research, published in the journals Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, demonstrates that even extremely low doses of THC around 1,000 to 10,000 times less than that in a conventional marijuana cigarette administered over a wide window of 1 to 7 days before or 1 to 3 days after injury can jump start biochemical processes which protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function over time.

This treatment, especially in light of the long time frame for administration and the low dosage, could be applicable to many cases of brain injury and be safer over time, Sarne said.

While performing experiments on the biology of cannabis, researchers found that low doses of the drug had a big impact on cell signalling, preventing cell death and promoting growth factors.

This finding led to a series of experiments designed to test the neuroprotective ability of THC in response to various brain injuries.

In the lab, the researchers injected mice with a single low dose of THC either before or after exposing them to brain trauma. A control group of mice sustained brain injury but did not receive the THC treatment.”

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/marijuana-component-can-halt-brain-damage/1123274/

Low doses of marijuana component can protect brain against injury

Posted on by
Reply

Low doses of marijuana component can protect brain against injury

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Though marijuana is a well-known recreational drug, extensive scientific research has been conducted on the therapeutic properties of marijuana in the last decade. Medical cannabis is often used by sufferers of chronic ailments, including cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder, to combat pain, insomnia, lack of appetite, and other symptoms.

Now Prof. Yosef Sarne of Tel Aviv University’s Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine says that the drug has neuroprotective qualities as well. He has found that extremely low doses of THC—the psychoactive component of marijuana—protects the brain from long-term cognitive damage in the wake of injury from hypoxia (lack of oxygen), seizures, or toxic drugs. Brain damage can have consequences ranging from mild cognitive deficits to severe neurological damage.

Previous studies focused on injecting high doses of THC within a very short time frame—approximately 30 minutes—before or after injury. Prof. Sarne’s current research, published in the journals Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, demonstrates that even extremely low doses of THC—around 1,000 to 10,000 times less than that in a conventional marijuana cigarette—administered over a wide window of 1 to 7 days before or 1 to 3 days after injury can jumpstart biochemical processes which protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function over time.

This treatment, especially in light of the long time frame for administration and the low dosage, could be applicable to many cases of brain injury and be safer over time…”

More: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-doses-marijuana-component-brain-injury.html

Marijuana’s THC Can Halt Brain Damage

Posted on by
Reply

Cannabis. Image: Hupu2, Wikimedia

“Though marijuana is a well-known recreational drug, extensive scientific research has been conducted on the therapeutic properties of marijuana in the last decade. Medical cannabis is often used by sufferers of chronic ailments, including cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder, to combat pain, insomnia, lack of appetite and other symptoms.

Now Prof. Yosef Sarne of Tel Aviv Univ.’s Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine says that the drug has neuroprotective qualities as well. He has found that extremely low doses of THC — the psychoactive component of marijuana — protects the brain from long-term cognitive damage in the wake of injury from hypoxia (lack of oxygen), seizures or toxic drugs. Brain damage can have consequences ranging from mild cognitive deficits to severe neurological damage.

Previous studies focused on injecting high doses of THC within a very short time frame — approximately 30 minutes — before or after injury. Sarne’s current research, published in the journals Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, demonstrates that even extremely low doses of THC — around 1,000 to 10,000 times less than that in a conventional marijuana cigarette — administered over a wide window of one to seven days before or one to three days after injury can jumpstart biochemical processes which protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function over time.

This treatment, especially in light of the long time frame for administration and the low dosage, could be applicable to many cases of brain injury and be safer over time, Sarne says.”

More: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/marijuanas-thc-can-halt-brain-damage

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

Posted on by
Reply
“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.”

 

8750250.t.png

“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

Posted on by
Reply
“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

Posted on by
Reply
“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

Posted on by
Reply

“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