Category Archives: News Stories

Marijuana stops child’s severe seizures – CNN

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“…Charlotte gets a dose of the cannabis oil twice a day in her food.

Gedde found three to four milligrams of oil per pound of the girl’s body weight stopped the seizures.

Today, Charlotte, 6, is thriving. Her seizures only happen two to three times per month, almost solely in her sleep. Not only is she walking, she can ride her bicycle. She feeds herself and is talking more and more each day.

“I literally see Charlotte’s brain making connections that haven’t been made in years,” Matt said. “My thought now is, why were we the ones that had to go out and find this cure? This natural cure? How come a doctor didn’t know about this? How come they didn’t make me aware of this?”

The marijuana strain Charlotte and now 41 other patients use to ease painful symptoms of diseases such as epilepsy and cancer has been named after the little girl who is getting her life back one day at a time.

It’s called Charlotte’s Web.”

More: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html

Medical Marijuana Returns Life To 6-Year-Old: Cannabis Oil Stopped Charlotte Figi’s Severe Seizures

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Medical Marijuana

“Medical marijuana changed everything for Charlotte Figi. CNN reports that after the six-year-old was started on daily doses of cannabis oil, her debilitating seizures subsided and her cognitive functions improved dramatically.

Thanks to a federally controlled substance, she is now living a normal life.”

 More: http://www.medicaldaily.com/medical-marijuana-returns-life-6-year-old-cannabis-oil-stopped-charlotte-figis-severe-seizures

Smokin’: Report finds marijuana has negligible effects on lungs

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“According to a new study, habitual use of marijuana alone doesn’t appear to lead to significant abnormalities in lung function, nor does it increase the risks of COPD or either lung or upper airway cancer.”

“The pulmonary consequences of regularly smoking marijuana are far less than for tobacco, according a review of the published evidence conducted by Dr. Donald P. Tashkin, emeritus professor of medicine and medical director of the pulmonary function laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. “

More: http://www.familypracticenews.com/single-view/smokin-report-finds-marijuana-has-negligible-effects-on-lungs/e06976673e7c44157d83649773e81193.html

 

 

GW Pharmaceuticals Announces Results of MS Spasticity Study Confirming Sativex Has No Long-Term Negative Effect on Cognition

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“-Provides Further Evidence of Long-term Efficacy-

GW Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel therapeutics from its proprietary cannabinoid product platform, announces top-line results from a 12 month placebo-controlled study of Sativex in patients with spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

The study results confirm the reassuring safety profile of Sativex and provide further evidence of long-term efficacy.”

More: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/gw-pharmaceuticals-announces-results-ms-060000735.html

Active Ingredient in Marijuana Kills Brain Cancer Cells – ABCNews

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ABC News

 

 

“New research out of Spain suggests that THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — appears to prompt the death of brain cancer cells.

The finding is based on work with mice designed to carry human cancer tumors, as well as from an analysis of THC’s impact on tumor cells extracted from two patients coping with a highly aggressive form of brain cancer.

Explaining that the introduction of THC into the brain triggers a cellular self-digestion process known as “autophagy,” study co-author Guillermo Velasco said his team has isolated the specific pathway by which this process unfolds, and noted that it appears “to kill cancer cells, while it does not affect normal cells…”

 The findings were published in the April issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.”: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/37948

More: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=7235037&page=1

“Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells” Full Text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2673842/

THC, found in cannabis, shown to be effective in the treatment of brain tumors

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“In 2000, scientists at the Complutense University of Madrid carried out an extensive experiment, testing the effects of THC on cancerous brain cells in laboratory rats. Their discoveries were nothing short of amazing, as THC had effectively managed to destroy all cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unaffected.
 
 Research into the effects of THC on glioblastoma would have had the potential to revolutionize available cancer treatments, yet due to insufficient funding and poor public exposure, the science team was unable to further their research.Manuel Guzman explained that “cannabinoids are selective antitumor compounds, as they can kill tumor cells without affecting their non-transformed counterparts.” In contrast to this, chemotherapy, the prevalent anticancer treatment of today, consists of a combination of antineoplastic drugs that have devastating physical and psychological side-effects… 
 
THC works by triggering the build-up of a chemical messenger known as ceramide, which in turn induces apoptosis (or programmed cell death) in mutated tumor cells.
Subsequent research into the properties of THC has revealed that it is among the very few naturally occurring, harmless substances that are capable of inducing programmed cell death in cancerous cells. Other substances with this property include anandamide, other cannabinoids and tumor necrosis factors produced by the immune system in its attempt to fight cancer.
 
After months of effort to obtain funding for testing the medical effects of THC on human tissues, the Madrid science team was forced to abandon this project, although there is currently no effective treatment available for malignant brain tumors.” 
 
 

Marijuana Compounds Possess Synergistic Anti-Cancer Effects, Study Says

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“Marijuana’s active compounds act synergistically to inhibit the growth of cancer cells and induce malignant cell death, according to preclinical trial data published online by the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

Investigators at the University of California, Pacific Medical Center Research Institute assessed whether the administration of the non-psychoactive cannabidiol would enhance the anti-cancer effects of THC on glioblastoma (brain cancer) cells.

Researchers reported that a combination of cannabinoids showed greater anti-cancer activity than the administration of either compound individually. “We discovered that cannabidiol enhanced the ability of THC to inhibit cell proliferation and induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis (programmed cell death),” authors reported.

Investigators concluded: “Individually, THC and cannabidiol can activate distinct pathways in glioblastoma cells that ultimately culminate in inhibition of cancer cell growth and invasion as well as induction of cell death. We hypothesized that, if the individual agents were combined, a convergence on shared pathways may ensue, leading to an enhanced ability of the combination treatment to inhibit certain cancer cell phenotypes. We found this to be true in this investigation.”

A 2008 scientific review published in the journal Cancer Research reported that the cannabinioids inhibit cell proliferation in a wide range of cancers, including brain cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, pancreatic cancer, and lymphoma.”

http://norml.org/news/2010/01/21/marijuana-compounds-possess-synergistic-anti-cancer-effects-study-says

Cannabis-Linked Cell Receptor Might Help Prevent Colon Cancer

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“A cannabinoid receptor lying on the surface of cells may help suppress colorectal cancer, say U.S. researchers. When the receptor is turned off, tumor growth is switched on. Cannabinoids are compounds related to the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) found in the cannabis plant.”

Photo of colon composite

“It’s already known that the receptor, CB1, plays a role in relieving pain and nausea, elevating mood and stimulating appetite by serving as a docking station for the cannabinoid group of signaling molecules. This study suggests that CB1 may offer a new path for cancer prevention or treatment.”

More: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=91511

Cannabis compound clue to colon cancer

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“…taking substances similar to those found in cannabis might one day help to treat colon cancer.

Raymond DuBois and colleagues at the University of Texas, Houston, discovered that a key receptor for cannabinoids – compounds similar to the active ingredient of cannabis – is turned off in most types of human colon cancer cells.

 Similarly, mice genetically engineered to develop colon tumours developed more of them if the receptor, called CB1, was knocked out What’s more, tumours shrank when the genetically engineered mice were injected with a cannabinoid.

One suggestion is that lack of CB1 encourages tumour growth because the receptor normally interacts with cannabinoids made by the body to prompt cells to die. This opens up a possible two-step treatment for colon cancer…”

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926685.000-cannabis-compound-clue-to-colon-cancer.html

Cannabis-Linked Cell Receptor Might Help Prevent Colon Cancer – TheWashingtonPost

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“A cannabinoid receptor lying on the surface of cells may help suppress colorectal cancer, say U.S. researchers. When the receptor is turned off, tumor growth is switched on.

Cannabinoids are compounds related to the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) found in the cannabis plant.

It’s already known that the receptor, CB1, plays a role in relieving pain and nausea, elevating mood and stimulating appetite by serving as a docking station for the cannabinoid group of signaling molecules. This study suggests that CB1 may offer a new path for cancer prevention or treatment.”

More: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2008-08-01/news/36873908_1_colorectal-cancer-tumor-growth-smaller-tumors