Cannabis chemicals may help fight prostate cancer

Chemicals in cannabis have been found to stop prostate cancer cells from growing in the laboratory, suggesting that cannabis-based medicines could one day help fight the disease, scientists said Wednesday.
After working initially with human cancer cell lines, Ines Diaz-Laviada and colleagues from the University of Alcala in Madrid also tested one compound on mice and discovered it produced a significant reduction in tumor growth.
Their research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, underlines the growing interest in the medical use of active chemicals called cannabinoids, which are found in marijuana.
Experts, however, stressed that the research was still exploratory and many more years of testing would be needed to work out how to apply the findings to the treatment of cancer in humans.
"This is interesting research which opens a new avenue to explore potential drug targets but it is at a very early stage," said Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, which owns the journal.
"It absolutely isn't the case that men might be able to fight prostate cancer by smoking cannabis," she added.

Why not, you might ask? How about vaporizing?

The 'cannabinoids' used in the research are in fact CB2 agonists JWH-015 and methanandamide, substances that are not actually present in cannabis. What they fail to mention here is that cannabis can not only alleviate pain and nausea in cancer patients, it also elevates their mood and stimulates appetite.

Read more on the NORML website.