Abstract
Aside from producing what some consider to be a desirable euphoria, marijuana cannabinoid derivatives also are showing promise as potentially useful, and nontoxic, treatments for various forms of cancer at least on the basis of tests with mice.
In Montreal last week, pharmacologists from the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, presented test results at a meeting of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics showing that at least one cannabinoid derivative, Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), retarded the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers, and virus-induced leukemia in mice and prolonged the lives of the test animals by as much as 50%. The compound, and apparently other members of the cannabinoid family, also acts as an immunosuppressant, heading off the host’s natural defense mechanisms that tend to reject such things as organ transplants and skin grafts.
The MCV research scientists believe, as does Dr. Nahas, that the cannabinoids block tumor growth by inhibiting the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) …
