"Can Cannabis Cure Cancer?"
Cannabis and cancer: reality or pipe dream quackery?
Among alternative cancer treatments,
cannabis inhabits a peculiarly politicized position,
hailed as a suppressed panacea by some,
denounced as a dangerous drug by others.
At the far end of the spectrum are those who insist
cannabis helped cure their cancer.
“The promise, and even the hype, can reach hysterical proportions,
with claims of cannabis cancer cures circulating
in cyberspace at a furious pace.
The problem is that sometimes a patient will have a cancer
that’s curable with conventional therapies,
like you could cut it out before it spreads
but forgoes that treatment in favor of something
that just got good online testimonials.
Yes, cannabis compounds like THC can reduce brain tumor
volume in mice, or suppress cancer cell
growth in a petri dish.
But, it turns out, mice and rats are not people,
and what is observed in vitro does not necessarily translate
into human clinical medicine.
Why not just give it a try, though?
Because there’s other evidence that cannabis compounds may
encourage cancer growth.
Like THC inhibiting anti-cancer immunity,
or inducing cancer cell proliferation,
enhancing breast cancer growth and metastasis
by suppression of the anti-tumor immune response.
Yeah, but in mouse mammary tumors.
You don’t know what happens in people until...
you put it to the test.
But because of legal reasons
few human studies have been done.
But thankfully, after years of a deep freeze on
cannabis-related research, funding, and materials,
a thaw is starting.
But where do you even start?
Well, if cannabis compounds, cannabinoids,
are postulated to have a potential anticancer effect
working through the cannabinoid receptors,
it would follow that trying it on cancer of the brain,
where the receptors are most densely concentrated
would be the place to start.
OK, well one of the most devastating forms
of cancer is glioblastoma, a fast-growing type of
malignant brain tumor.
And that’s the first cancer that was put to the test.
Cannabis compounds sometimes inhibit tumor growth in lab animals,
However, anti-tumor effects had never been tested in humans.
So, here we go, the first clinical study on cancer:
specifically a pilot study in which
nine patients with recurrent glioblastoma
meaning they had the tumor cut out,
they had the radiation treatments,
but the cancer is back and is growing.
Then they administered the THC straight into the tumor.
Basically they went back into surgery,
had a scoop carved out of the center of their tumors
and they stuck a catheter in the middle
with the other end sticking out of their heads
so they could drip the THC straight
into the tumor with a syringe.
THC was already tested on biopsy specimens
and showed it was able to kill
some of the cancer cells off in a petri dish.
So, what happened when it was tried
on the patients themselves?
The patients all died, in a matter of months.
In a few patients it seemed to work for a few weeks
maybe but then the tumor took back off
despite repeated treatments.
This looks like their most dramatic result.
Here’s where the tumor started before the treatment,
and at four weeks had dramatically shrunk down.
35-year-old guy.
Oh, the whole family must have been beside themselves.
But, then it came back with a vengeance,
and despite more infusions got worse
and then he was gone.
With no control group, the effect of the treatment
on overall survival is unclear.
This was both the first clinical trial on cancer,
and the only clinical trial on cancer,
even though it was published over a decade ago.
But the good news is:
there are more than 15 trials currently underway.
Perhaps the most exciting of which
is a phase 2 trial in Israel,
again looking at advanced cancers that are progressing
despite all standard treatments.
In the meanwhile, if you are undergoing
a standard treatment like chemo,
at least we know that cannabis may help
with some of the side effects.