Category Archives: News Stories

Marijuana Compound Fights Cancer; Human Trials Next

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(NBC) “Research shows component in medical cannabis fights cancer.”

“The “medical” bit of medical marijuana may be legitimate after all: Turns out a component of cannabis fights cancer, according to research.

Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center found that cannabidiol, or CBD, has the ability to “turn off” the DNA that causes “breast and other types of cancers” to metastasize, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“If this plant were discovered in the Amazon today, scientists would be falling all over each other to be the first to bring it to market,” said Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of oncology at the University of California San Francisco, which has also found science behind marijuana’s efficacy.

The drug “has been shown to reduce pain and nausea” in cancer patients, the newspaper reported. AIDS patients also swear by cannabis for its ability to allow them to eat, sleep and otherwise function.

Turns out that cannabidiol has none of the psychotropic effects of marijuana as a whole, according to the newspaper. The researchers hope to move to clinical trials on humans soon.

Cancer cells exposed to cannabidiol lost their abilities to metastasize, according to the newspaper.”

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Marijuana-Compound-Fights-Cancer-Human-Trials-Next-170406116.html

NBC News Reports that Cannabidiol (CBD) “Turns Off” the Cancer Gene Involved in Metastasis Findings by Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center gives Scientific Support for Cannabis Science

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“Cannabis Science (CBIS), a pioneering U.S. Biotech Company developing pharmaceutical products for global public health challenges, reports on a recent press release by the San Francisco NBC news, with new studies by Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center, which have shown that cannabidiol, (CBD -1.18%, news), has the ability to “turn off” a gene that causes breast and other types of cancers to metastasize, according to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

NBC News reports, “The drug “has been shown to reduce pain and nausea” in cancer patients. AIDS patients also use cannabis to eat, sleep and otherwise be more functional. Turns out that cannabidiol has none of the psychotropic effects of marijuana as a whole. The researchers hope to move to clinical trials on humans soon to test the cannabidiol inhibition of metastasis, reported in the San Francisco Chronicle. “What they found is that the cannabinoid turns off the overexpression of ID-1, which makes the cells lose their ability to travel to distant tissues. In other words, it keeps the cells more local and blocks their ability to metastasize. (spread to a new location) The researchers stressed cannabidiol works only on cancer cells that have these high levels of ID-1 and these do not include all cancerous tumors but, rather, aggressive, metastatic cells. But they’ve found such high levels in leukemia, colorectal, pancreatic, lung, ovarian, brain and other cancers.””

http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=BW&date=20120920&id=15582334

SF Scientists: Marijuana Fights Cancer

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(NBC Bay Area) “The “medical” bit of medical marijuana may be legitimate after all: Turns out a component of cannabis fights cancer, according to research.

Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center found that cannabidiol, or CBD, has the ability to “turn off” the DNA that causes “breast and other types of cancers” to metastasize, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“If this plant were discovered in the Amazon today, scientists would be falling all over each other to be the first to bring it to market,” said Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of oncology at the University of California San Francisco, which has also found science behind marijuana’s efficacy.

The drug “has been shown to reduce pain and nausea” in cancer patients, the newspaper reported. AIDS patients also swear by cannabis for its ability to allow them to eat, sleep and otherwise function.

Turns out that cannabidiol has none of the psychotropic effects of marijuana as a whole, according to the newspaper.”

http://m.nbcbayarea.com/nbcbayarea/pm_108022/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=DXQ0PNfC

Brain’s own cannabis compound protects against inflammation

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“Some clinical studies have indicated that marijuana or its active cannabinoid ingredient alleviates symptoms of the inflammatory disease multiple sclerosis (MS). Also, researchers have found that the brain’s natural “endocannabinoids” are released after brain injury and are believed to alleviate neuronal damage. However, scientists have not understood how such substances act within the brain’s own immune system.

 Now, experiments by Oliver Ullrich and colleagues have pinpointed how one of the brain’s endocannabinoids protects neurons from inflammation after such damage. They say their studies could lead to new drugs to treat the inflammation and brain degeneration from MS or other such disorders.

In an article in the January 5, 2006, issue of Neuron, the researchers reported experiments showing how the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) protects brain cells from inflammation. Such a role in the brain’s immune system is distinct from cannabinoids’ effects on neuronal signaling that produce the behavioral effects of marijuana.”

http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news/Brains-own-cannabis-compound-protects-against-inflammation-2810-1/

Pot Chemical May Curb Inflammation – WebMD

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“Marijuana’s active ingredient may curb inflammation and help treat skin allergies.

That news comes from researchers including Meliha Karsak, PhD, and Thomas Tuting, MD, of Germany’s University of Bonn.

Marijuana’s key compound, THC, is a type of chemical called a cannabinoid. The brain contains two types of cannabinoid receptors.

Karsak and colleagues studied mice born with or without cannabinoid receptors. The mice wore ear tags to identify them; those ear tags contained nickel.

The mice without cannabinoid receptors were particularly likely to have allergic skin reactions to the nickel in the ear tags.

The scientists reasoned that the mice’s allergies may have been linked to their lack of cannabinoid receptors.

Karsak’s team tested that theory in several experiments.

First, they turned off cannabinoid receptors in healthy mice. Those mice then became more likely to develop skin inflammation near their nickel ear tags.

Next, the researchers exposed other mice with cannabinoid receptors to a skin irritant. Some of the mice got THC shots after being exposed to the irritant. Others got a THC skin lotion before and after exposure to the irritant.

The THC shot and lotion both helped soothe the mice’s inflamed skin.

“If we dabbed THC solution onto the animals’ skin shortly before and after applying the allergen, a lot less swelling occurred than normal,” Tuting says in a University of Bonn news release.

In the journal Science, the researchers write that their study “strongly suggests” that the body’s cannabinoid system can help tame inflammation and that THC skin lotions have “promising potential” for treating skin allergies caused by contact with irritating chemicals.

However, the researchers didn’t test the THC lotion on skin allergies in people.”

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/news/20070607/pot-chemical-may-curb-inflammation

“Attenuation of allergic contact dermatitis through the endocannabinoid system…These results demonstrate a protective role of the endocannabinoid system in contact allergy in the skin and suggest a target for therapeutic intervention.”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17556587

Why Cannabis Stems Inflammation

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“Cannabis has long been accredited with anti-inflammatory properties. ETH Zurich researchers, however, have now discovered that it is not only the familiar psychoactive substances that are responsible for this; a compound we take in every day in vegetable nutriment also plays a significant role.

People not only rate cannabis sativa L. highly because of its intoxicating effects; it has also long been used as a medicinal plant. Although the plant has been scrutinized for years, surprising new aspects keep cropping up. For example, researchers from ETH Zurich and Bonn University examined a component in the plant’s essential oil that until then had largely been ignored and found it to have remarkable phar- macological effects. The findings open up interesting perspectives, especially for the prevention and treatment of inflammations.

The hemp plant contains over 450 different substances, only three of which are responsible for its intoxicating effect. They activate the two receptors in the body CB1 and CB2. Whilst the CB1 receptor in the central nervous system influences perception, the CB2 receptor in the tissue plays a crucial role in inhibiting inflammation. If the receptor is activated, the cell releases fewer pro-inflammatory signal substances, or cytokines. The scientists have now discovered that the substance beta-carophyllene, which composes between 12 and 35 percent of the cannabis plant’s essential oil, activates the CB2 receptor selectively.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080720222549.htm

Marijuana Has Anti-Inflammatory That Won’t Get You High

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“Marijuana supporters have long argued that the plant’s active ingredients, known as cannabinoids, are safe and effective treatments for pain, nausea, and other ailments.

The most active cannabinoid—delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC—is known to have anti-inflammatory properties. But it is also responsible for the plant’s psychotropic effects.

Now researchers say that another cannabinoid, called beta-caryophyllene, or (E)-BCP, helps combat inflammation without affecting the brain.

(E)-BCP is already part of many people’s daily diets, the researchers note. Foods that are particularly high in the compound include black pepper, oregano, basil, lime, cinnamon, carrots, and celery.

Essential oils from cannabis plants—whose leaves and flowers are used to make the marijuana drug—contain up to 35 percent (E)-BCP.”

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080624-marijuana.html

Marijuana smokers are thinner, less likely to be obese than non-smokers, according to new study

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“Stoners may spend a lot of time on the couch and craving White Castle, but they apparently don’t let their bodies go to pot.

People who smoke marijuana regularly are less likely to be obese than non-pot smokers, according to a new study by French researches.

“We found that cannabis users are less likely to be obese than non-users,” Dr. Yann Le Strat, French psychiatrist and co-author of a new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology told MSNBC. “We were so surprised, we thought we had [made] a mistake.”

Using data from two epidemiologic studies of U.S. adults, researchers found that between 22% to 25% of participants who didn’t smoke pot were obese.

But only between 14% and 17% of those people who admitted to taking a toke at least three times a week were overweight.

Le Strat said other factors, such as the stoners’ level of physical activity or diets, could have contributed to the results, but his team tried to rule out those factors.

The researches were also quick to point out that sucking on a bong isn’t the key to a tight tummy.

“The take-home message is certainly not ‘smoke cannabis, it will help you lose weight,'” Le Strat said. “The possibility that cannabis is associated with a lower risk of obesity remains an interesting hypothesis, but certainly does not counterbalance its negative effects on health and mental health.””

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-09-04/entertainment/30136983_1_cannabis-marijuana-smokers-smoke-pot

The Marijuana Diet: Study Says Pot Smokers Tend to be Skinnier (Really)

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“You know the stereotype: Marijuana user = Jonah Hill-looking dude who lives on his friend’s couch.

But if you look at the daily smokers around you, and we know you have daily smokers around you, this being the pot shop capital of the nation and all, what are you looking at?

You see skinny people.

For the first time, a study seems to back up the observation that stoners are actually lithe
Research published last week in the American Journal of Epidemiology (via our friends at SF Weekly) finds that weed smokers on average are more likely to have normal weight.

Parsing data, researchers found that 22 percent of nonsmokers were overweight while only 14 percent of bud aficionados were. Those ID’d as potheads had to smoke at least three times a week under the study.

What munchies? This might explain why pot-smoking women are often, well, smoking hot.

Interesting, because one of the arguments for legalizing medical marijuana is that it can be used to boost the appetites of AIDS sufferers and cancer patients who have trouble keeping weight on.

Still a valid use? Whatever works.

But we do know that the Marijuana Diet sounds way cooler than any eating plan South Beach Miami has ever produced.”

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/09/marijuana_skinny_fat_study.php