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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
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Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer?
#13393677 - 10/27/10 02:20 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? October 26, 2010 - AlterNet By Mary Jane Borden
For 70 years, we've been taught that marijuana has no accepted medical use and that its high potential for abuse demands absolute prohibition. Medical research has been nearly impossible since obtaining the substance for legitimate studies is restricted by the federal government. But for a moment, forget the anti-drug ads of stoned teenagers passing the bong and click instead on the National Library of Medicine's website, “Pubmed.gov.” Look under "breast cancer and cannabinoid” and you will find studies in scientific journals like Breast Cancer Research and Treatment that should warrant immediate action: “Our data demonstrate the efficacy of CBD in pre-clinical models of breast cancer. The results have the potential to lead to the development of novel non-toxic compounds for the treatment of breast cancer metastasis…” A study in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics says, “These results indicate that CB1 and CB2 receptors could be used to develop novel therapeutic strategies against breast cancer growth and metastasis." And this from the journal Molecular Cancer: "these results provide a strong preclinical evidence for the use of cannabinoid-based therapies for the management of ErbB2-positive breast cancer." What’s more, this basic research also extols the safety of potential cannabinoid therapies. The science behind these studies finds that the human body contains its own internal system interrelated with molecules in the cannabis plant—AKA marijuana. A neurological signaling structure called the endocannabinoid system is now known to govern numerous bodily processes like appetite, pain, and even the birth of new brain cells. Cannabinoid receptors, called CB1 and CB2, are located in various cell membranes and activated by the body’s own cannabinoid molecules (endocannabinoids), as well as those unique to the cannabis plant (THC, CBD) and synthetically-derived cannabinoids like Marinol®. And now, the latest research is proving that cannabinoids, as part of this bodily system, play a mitigating role in breast cancer. Breast cancer is a frightening diagnosis that will confront about 1 in 8 American women this year. Some 40,000 will die from it. An unusual lump in a breast can grow through four increasingly incurable stages and sometimes into other tissue. Therapies involve invasive surgery, heavy radiation, and toxic chemotherapy. Current anti-cancer drugs may kill cancer cells, but they also destroy non-cancerous tissue and damage heart muscle. Intractable nausea and vomiting comprise just one side effect. The disease may be worse than the cure but the cure can also kill. But suppose some scientist has just come out of the jungle with an unknown plant that holds this much promise. It would be featured in the nightly news and on the front page of every newspaper. Well, we now have before us scientific clues that seem to point toward a revolution in breast cancer treatment, yet the government still manages to bury this amazing discovery. Why? Politics. The “Devil Weed” has always been a favorite target for tough-on-crime politicians. Over the decades, they have assembled a labyrinth of governmental agencies with multi-billion dollar budgets that enforce marijuana laws, ignore the science, thwart clinical research—and constantly reinforce anti-pot stereotypes. In the 70 years since Congress relegated marijuana to the dungeon of dangerous drugs, several administrative petitions have been filed to reclassify the herb and numerous lawsuits have challenged the U.S. Government’s monopoly control over cannabis supply, yet even the few that made it to the Supreme Court failed to dislodge the federal government's iron grip on policy. While medicinal use of marijuana is now legal in 14 states, none except California ventures into research, even though opinion polls find rising public support that now includes organizations like the American College of Physicians. While we dither, the clock is ticking for the 207,000 women expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone. How much longer must those facing this disease wait for the federal labyrinth to sort out this issue? There has to be a way to accelerate the clinical trials that will develop promising cannabinoid-based breast cancer treatments. Something simultaneously immediate, attention-getting, and policy-changing. Something that brings this issue to the fore, that can't be ignored, and hasn't been tried before. Could legalizing marijuana in California help cure breast cancer?
Mary Jane Borden is a former marketing analyst for largest U.S. marketer of cancer chemotherapy drugs in the U.S. during the 1980s. She is now Business Manager for the non-profit DrugSense/MAP and Editor of the publication and website, Drug War Facts.
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Mickalopagus
living in perverty


Registered: 07/06/04
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Re: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? [Re: veggie]
#13393785 - 10/27/10 03:09 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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1 in 8... that figure is shocking
-------------------- notapillow said: "you are going about this endeavor all wrong. clear your mind of useless fear and concern. buy the ticket, take the ride, and all that.... " ChrisWho said: "It's all about the journey, not the destination."
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,379
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Re: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? [Re: veggie]
#13393852 - 10/27/10 04:23 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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See what happens when you click "limits" and then "clinical trials".
The results of the search turn to "0".
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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Green_T


Registered: 10/02/08
Posts: 4,042
Loc: UK
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Re: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? [Re: badchad]
#13393860 - 10/27/10 04:32 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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^ your point?
Clinical trials cost in the order of millions, take years, involve hundreds of people, and it must be pretty difficult to get the licensing since cannabis is a schedule 1 substance.
Clinical trials for deadly illnesses also poses an ethical dilemma: do you give someone a proven anti-cancer drug, or test something which may not work on them, allowing the disease to progress?
"Clinical testing" is also done in the context of safety and efficacy testing for new compounds as part of the process of being licensed and released on the market, which does not apply to cannabis testing.
Sure, in-vitro testing may not be as accurate, but it is a promising start. I'd expect in-vivo testing once legalization happens.
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"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims
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Cannashroom
Smoke two Joints



Registered: 10/25/07
Posts: 2,141
Loc: Everywhere
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Re: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? [Re: Green_T]
#13394243 - 10/27/10 09:08 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Green_T said: ^ your point?
Clinical trials cost in the order of millions, take years, involve hundreds of people, and it must be pretty difficult to get the licensing since cannabis is a schedule 1 substance.
Clinical trials for deadly illnesses also poses an ethical dilemma: do you give someone a proven anti-cancer drug, or test something which may not work on them, allowing the disease to progress?
"Clinical testing" is also done in the context of safety and efficacy testing for new compounds as part of the process of being licensed and released on the market, which does not apply to cannabis testing.
Sure, in-vitro testing may not be as accurate, but it is a promising start. I'd expect in-vivo testing once legalization happens.
What you fail to realize here is that cannabis is a already proven safe medicine that is given to cancer patients for their side effects. All that needs to be done in the clinical trials is give them a more concentrated non smoked form (Oil) and measure the exact dosages and responses.
If we were living in a sane and rational society, this would have happened a long time ago. Instead because of ingrained ignorance, fear and propaganda (and now the cancer industry) cannabis is not going to become a cancer drug in our current system until it can be exploited for profit.
-------------------- "A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe'; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." Albert Einstein
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adamantasaurus
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Re: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? [Re: Cannashroom]
#13394981 - 10/27/10 12:06 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Cannashroom said:
Quote:
Green_T said:
If we were living in a sane and rational society, this would have happened a long time ago. Instead because of ingrained ignorance, fear and propaganda (and now the cancer industry) cannabis is not going to become a cancer drug in our current system until it can be exploited for profit.
   
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,379
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Re: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? [Re: Green_T]
#13396105 - 10/27/10 04:17 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Green_T said: ^ your point?
Rodents and petri dishes are a far cry from humans
Quote:
Green_T said:Clinical trials cost in the order of millions, take years, involve hundreds of people, and it must be pretty difficult to get the licensing since cannabis is a schedule 1 substance.
The cost is obviously dependent on the size. Schedule 1 licenses can be obtained. There are currently 27 trials registered in the U.S. This doesn't include completed studies.
Quote:
Green_T said:Clinical trials for deadly illnesses also poses an ethical dilemma: do you give someone a proven anti-cancer drug, or test something which may not work on them, allowing the disease to progress?
You would test it in Stage IV cancer patients with a 99.9% chance of fatality. This shifts the risk:benefit ratio so that it is ENTIRELY benefit, and no risk.
Quote:
Green_T said:"Clinical testing" is also done in the context of safety and efficacy testing for new compounds as part of the process of being licensed and released on the market, which does not apply to cannabis testing.
This is not true.
Quote:
Green_T said:Sure, in-vitro testing may not be as accurate, but it is a promising start. I'd expect in-vivo testing once legalization happens.
I wouldn't disagree. Rather, I would look at the number of drugs with "anticancer" properties in preclinical models (including in vitro testing), and see how many are beneficial in humans.
My guess is that somewhere around 90% of compounds that show anti-cancer efficacay in vitro, never make it to humans. However, that's complete speculation.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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Green_T


Registered: 10/02/08
Posts: 4,042
Loc: UK
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Re: Could Legalizing Marijuana in California Help Cure Breast Cancer? [Re: badchad]
#13399122 - 10/28/10 03:07 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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^ This is the point I was trying to make:
Trials cost LOTS of money. If a drug company were to fund the trials, they wouldn't be able to patent the medicine afterwards. So where is the financial incentive?
Quote:
Quote:
Green_T said:"Clinical testing" is also done in the context of safety and efficacy testing for new compounds as part of the process of being licensed and released on the market, which does not apply to cannabis testing.
This is not true.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_trial
This is the regulatory process for getting a treatment approved for a disease.
Quote:
My guess is that somewhere around 90% of compounds that show anti-cancer efficacay in vitro, never make it to humans. However, that's complete speculation.
Usually the reason that efficacy shown in vitro is not shown in vivo is due to pharmacokinetics. For example, compound A may have anti-cancer effects, but when placed in the human body it is metabolized rapidly into compound B, which has no effect. Alternatively, it could be toxic to other cells. These issues arise from in vitro studies looking at an isolated component of a complex system.
We know both of these statements would be untrue as applied to cannabis.
Naturally, I would like to see a cure for cancers, especially if cannabis is involved. But imagine people were speculating the same thing about massive doses of cinnamon (something common which cannot be patented), instead of cannabis. What you would expect to see is anecdotal evidence that taking the compound helps people already on medication. That evidence would then be confirmed through a university-type study. After that, there would be more studies to see whether it was the compound acting alone or in synergism, etc... These studies are hindered by the fact that there is a schedule 1 license attached to cannabis.
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"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims
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