When California passed its Medical Marijuana law some years ago, three counties steadfastly refused to issue identification cards to patients, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Merced. San Diego argued that federal law, which does not recognize medical marijuana usage, supersedes state law. San Diego lost that argument in a state trial and in the appellate courts. The California Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Merced dropped out of the case.
San Diego and San Bernardino decided to take a long-shot gamble to attempt to to have the U.S. Supreme Court hear the case. The United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case upholding the rights of medical marijuana patients. This is a landmark decision, or non-decision that paves the way for Medical Marijuana to be the law of the land in California.
To anyone who has followed the unethical actions of the San Diego and San Bernardino Supervisors over the past three years, the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear their appeal shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the counties’ vapid arguments had previously been struck down — unanimously — by the Superior Court of the State of California in the 4th District Court of Appeals.
In addition, the Legislative Counsel of California, the state Attorney General’s Office, and a majority of the California legislature had also previously determined that local politicians and law enforcement were obligated to uphold the provisions of California’s medical marijuana laws. Finally, California’s constitution is also quite clear on this point — mandating that police have a sworn duty to uphold state law, not to enforce federal statutes.
Let’s be blunt: San Diego and San Bernardino’s protracted lawsuits — lawsuits that arguably cost county taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and jeopardized the health and safety of thousands (if not tens of thousands) of citizens — were never about resolving legal ambiguity. Rather, it was about the arrogance and recalcitrance of those who willfully chose to abuse their power and position to hamstring the will of the voters, the legislature, and the courts.
And while this particular legal battle is now over, our outrage shouldn’t be. We now know that Medical marijuana, if used in its proper form as an ingestible medication (Hemp Oil with THC) kills cancer cells. It is being proven all over the world, It is time that the US lift Gerald Ford's 1975 ban on anyone being allowed to test marijuana in the U.S. other than pharmaceutical companies, and launch a full testing program to confirm the miraculous properties of this natural herb.
ATTACKS ON VITAMINS AND ANTIOXIDANTS ARE BOGUS -- INSPIRED BY BIG PHARMA?
There is a web portal that is known for its outrageous postings and topics. I will not give the owner of that site a link because many of his actions including posting any false information he could find about President Obama, much of which this "webmaster" knew to be untrue. Now he is posting so-called medical studies that attack the viability of vitamins and antioxidants! Is he being paid by the Pharmaceutical industry? Judge for yourself. There are several articles or studies. First, let's examine the one entitled, ANTIOXIDANTS INTERFERE WITH CHEMOTHERAPY Provocative, no? There is no author listed and this article can be found at: PRESS TV.
Who is PRESS TV? Their website says it all:
Press TV takes revolutionary steps as the first Iranian international news network, broadcasting in English on a round-the-clock basis. Our global Tehran-based headquarters is staffed with outstanding Iranian and foreign media professionals.
Here is what it says (OUR COMMENTS ARE IN CAPS AND BOLD):
Scientists claim that routine use of antioxidants during radiation and chemotherapy reduces the anticancer benefits of the treatment. THERE ARE NO ANTI-CANCER BENEFITS OF RADIATION AND CHEMOTHERAPY. THESE METHODS KILL ALL CELLS, CANCEROUS OR HEALTHY.
Previous studies had shown that antioxidant supplements protect healthy tissues and reduce the side effects of anti-cancer treatment. THAT'S RIGHT, THEY PROTECT THE HEALTHY CELLS FROM BURNING UP FROM CHEMO AND RADIATION.
Naval Medical Center scientists said taking antioxidants such as green tea, b-carotene, and vitamin A and E supplements does not have a considerable effect on the life span. Moreover, taking antioxidant supplements protect cancer cells from being killed by the treatment the same way they protect normal cells from harm. SO THEY CONFIRM THAT THESE ANTIOXIDANTS AND VITAMINS DO PROTECT CELLS.
According to the study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, radiation and many chemotherapy agents destroy tumor cells by inducing free radicals which damage DNA and proteins. AS WE SAID, THEY KILL ALL CELLS! Antioxidants interfere with this process. THANKFULLY!
PKH/HGH
Here is one that is truly insidious.
PROSTATE CANCER MANAGEABLE WITH RADIATION. (This one is complete baloney).
Standard medical treatment with the help of radiotherapy reduces the mortality rate in prostate cancer patients, a new study says. According to the study published in The Lancet Oncology, radiation therapy along with regular hormonal drugs doubles the survival rate in individuals suffering from advanced prostate cancer. The findings revealed that while 24 percent of prostate cancer sufferers die in 10 years of receiving medical treatment, adding radiation to the treatment regimen reduces this rate to less than 12 percent.
Radiotherapy improves the quality of life in these patients without posing additional side effects, the study said.
PKH/MD
OH REALLY? ACCORDING TO THE CANCER RESEARCH CENTER:
Side Effect of Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy may cause patients to become very tired as treatment continues. Resting is important, but doctors usually advise patients who have undergone radiation therapy to treat their prostate cancer to try to stay as active as they can. Patients may have diarrhea or frequent and uncomfortable urination. In addition, when patients receive external radiation therapy, it is common for the skin in the treated area to become red, dry, and tender. Other potential side effects of radiation therapy can include hair loss in the pelvic area. The loss may be temporary or permanent, depending on the amount of radiation used.
Radiation therapy causes impotence in some men. This does not occur as often with internal radiation therapy as with external radiation therapy; internal radiation therapy is not as likely to damage the nerves that control erection.
The truth is that American medicine is clueless as to how to cure cancer. Our government knows the cure, however, but will not allow it to become public. We have an absolute cure, proven by our government in testing in Virginia in 1975, and in further tests around the world since then. It is hemp oil with THC. Here is the video:
RUN FROM THE CURE.
Remember, the pharmaceutical industry is trying to destroy the supplement market and require prescriptions for virtually all herbal and non-drug solutions to our medical problems. There will be many such bogus studies in the near future as they try to propagandize the Rockefeller-based allopathic medicine our country practices. It's all about MONEY, not about your health.
Farrah Fawcett has been hospitalized and is in bad shape, sources close to family and friends tell RadarOnline.com exclusively. She has been battling cancer for three years and recently returned from Germany, where she had experimental stem-cell treatment. Sources told RadarOnline.com that she is critical but stable in a Los Angeles-area hospital. They also say she is unconscious and has been hospitalized for days.
Long-time love Ryan O’Neal has been by Farrah’s bedside, as has troubled son Redmond, who bolted from rehab earlier this week. Farrah, 62, was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006 and later pronounced cancer free at a press conference. It is not known whether she will survive.
There IS a cure for cancer yet thousands of people die from this horrible disease every year. The United States government has known about a cure since 1974. Richard Nixon was furious at a young generation of activists that had turned America against him and who flaunted the use of marijuana in his face.
In 1974. wanting to find damaging evidence that marijuana is harmful, researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, were funded by the National Institute of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the immune system. SURPRISE! They discovered instead that THC slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice -- lung and breast cancer, and a virus-induced leukemia.
The DEA quickly shut down the Virginia study and all further cannabis/tumor research, according to Jack Herer, in his book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes." In 1976 President Gerald Ford who replaced the disgraced Nixon as president, put an end to all public cannabis research and granted exclusive research rights to major pharmaceutical companies, who set out -- UNSUCCESSFULLY -- to develop synthetic forms of THC that would deliver all the medical benefits without the "high." The synthetic marinol simply doesn't work.
This was not the only medical research that has produced such exciting results.
In 2000 Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense University in Madrid Spain re-discovered that THC destroys tumors with no negative side effects whatsoever. His team also irrigated healthy rats brains with high doses of THC for seven days and again found no negative results. Cannabinoids kill cancer cells by cutting off their blood supply but not to the healthy cells. These results have since been duplicated around the globe with many other cancers as well.
In 2005 Dr. Xia Zhang of the University of Saskatchewan found that THC actually promotes the growth of brain cells bringing new hope for head trauma and stroke patients. The same year the Scripps Institute reported that THC was a superior inhibitor of the plaque that causes Alzheimers. Unfortunately we hear little of any of these findings.
In 2008 researchers in Italy and the U.K. found that cannabinoids have germ killing activity against MRSA and kill bacteria in a different way than current antibiotics, meaning they might bypass bacterial resistance. MRSA's are becoming more and more prevalent and new treatments are desperately needed.
Even now, more medical evidence continues to mount around the world as more tests are conducted that the main chemical in marijuana appears to aid in the destruction of brain cancer cells, offering hope for future anti-cancer therapies, researchers in Spain wrote in a study released Thursday.
The authors from the Complutense University in Madrid, working with scientists from other universities, found that the active component of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), causes cancer cells to undergo a process called autophagy -- the breakdown that occurs when the cell essentially self-digests.
The research, which appears in the April edition of US-published Journal of Clinical Investigation, demonstrates that THC and related "cannabinoids" appear to be "a new family of potential antitumoral agent." The authors wrote that the chemical may prove useful in the development of future "antitumoral agents."
The scientists conducted their research on mice, first stimulating the growth of cancer in the lab animals, then injecting them with a daily dose of THC near the site of their tumors. The researchers also analyzed the tumors of two patients in an experimental trial looking at the effects of THC on a highly aggressive form of brain tumor, and saw findings "in line with the preclinical evidence" first observed in the laboratory mice.
NOTED U.S. PHYSICIAN AGREES
Dr. Dean Ornish is a world renowned authority on fighting diseases with lifestyle and dietary changes. As clinical professor at University of California, San Francisco he has undeniable credentials and brain capacity to have his words taken seriously. Corrupted genes cause cancer.
According to Dr. Dean Ornish: “when you eat healthier, manage stress and exercise more, your brain gets more blood flow and more oxygen.”
Dr. Dean Ornish recommends following to increase brain cells:
Despite the ongoing political debate regarding the legality of medicinal marijuana, clinical investigations of the therapeutic use of cannabinoids are now more prevalent than at any time in history. A search of the National Library of Medicine's PubMed website quantifies this fact. A keyword search using the terms "cannabis, 1996" (the year California voters became the first of 13 states to allow for the drug’s medical use under state law) reveals just 258 scientific journal articles published on the subject during that year. Perform this same search for the year 2008, and one will find over 2,100 published scientific studies.
While much of the renewed interest in cannabinoid therapeutics is a result of the discovery of the endocannabinoid regulatory system, some of this increased attention is also due to the growing body of testimonials from medicinal cannabis patients and their physicians. Nevertheless, despite this influx of anecdotal reports, much of the modern investigation of medicinal cannabis remains limited to preclinical (animal) studies of individual cannabinoids (e.g. THC or cannabidiol) and/or synthetic cannabinoid agonists (e.g., dronabinol or WIN 55,212-2) rather than clinical trial investigations involving whole plant material. Predictably, because of the US government's strong public policy stance against any use of cannabis, the bulk of this modern cannabinoid research is taking place outside the United States.
As clinical research into the therapeutic value of cannabinoids has proliferated – there are now more than 17,000 published papers in the scientific literature analyzing marijuana and its constituents — so too has investigators' understanding of cannabis' remarkable capability to combat disease. Whereas researchers in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s primarily assessed cannabis' ability to temporarily alleviate various disease symptoms — such as the nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy — scientists today are exploring the potential role of cannabinoids to modify disease.
Of particular interest, scientists are investigating cannabinoids' capacity to moderate autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as their role in the treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease.)
Investigators are also studying the anti-cancer activities of cannabis, as a growing body of preclinical and clinical data concludes that cannabinoids can reduce the spread of specific cancer cells via apoptosis (programmed cell death) and by the inhibition of angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels). Arguably, these latter trends represent far broader and more significant applications for cannabinoid therapeutics than researchers could have imagined some thirty or even twenty years ago.
THE SAFETY PROFILE OF MEDICAL CANNABIS
Cannabinoids have a remarkable safety record, particularly when compared to other therapeutically active substances. Most significantly, the consumption of marijuana – regardless of quantity or potency -- cannot induce a fatal overdose. According to a 1995 review prepared for the World Health Organization, “There are no recorded cases of overdose fatalities attributed to cannabis, and the estimated lethal dose for humans extrapolated from animal studies is so high that it cannot be achieved by … users.”
In 2008, investigators at McGill University Health Centre and McGill University in Montreal and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver reviewed 23 clinical investigations of medicinal cannabinoid drugs (typically oral THC or liquid cannabis extracts) and eight observational studies conducted between 1966 and 2007. Investigators "did not find a higher incidence rate of serious adverse events associated with medical cannabinoid use" compared to non-using controls over these three decades.
That said, cannabis should not necessarily be viewed as a ‘harmless’ substance. Its active constituents may produce a variety of physiological and euphoric effects. As a result, there may be some populations that are susceptible to increased risks from the use of cannabis, such as adolescents, pregnant or nursing mothers, and patients who have a family history of mental illness. Patients with Hepatitis C, decreased lung function (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), or who have a history of heart disease or stroke may also be at a greater risk of experiencing adverse side effects from marijuana. As with any medication, patients should consult thoroughly with their physician before deciding whether the medicinal use of cannabis is safe and appropriate.
HOW TO USE THIS REPORT
As states continue to approve legislation enabling the physician-supervised use of medicinal marijuana, more patients with varying disease types are exploring the use of therapeutic cannabis. Many of these patients and their physicians are now discussing this issue for the first time, and are seeking guidance on whether the therapeutic use of cannabis may or may not be advisable. This report seeks to provide this guidance by summarizing the most recently published scientific research (2000-2009) on the therapeutic use of cannabis and cannabinoids for 19 clinical indications:
In some of these cases, modern science is now affirming longtime anecdotal reports of medicinal cannabis users (e.g., the use of cannabis to alleviate GI disorders). In other cases, this research is highlighting entirely new potential clinical utilities for cannabinoids (e.g., the use of cannabinoids to modify the progression of diabetes.)
The conditions profiled in this report were chosen because patients frequently inquire about the therapeutic use of cannabis to treat these disorders. In addition, many of the indications included in this report may be moderated by cannabis therapy. In several cases, preclinical data and clinical indicates that cannabinoids may halt the progression of these diseases in a more efficacious manner than available pharmaceuticals. In virtually all cases, this report is the most thorough and comprehensive review of the recent scientific literature regarding the therapeutic use of cannabis and cannabinoids.
For patients and their physicians, let this report serve as a primer for those who are considering using or recommending medicinal cannabis. For others, let this report serve as an introduction to the broad range of emerging clinical applications for cannabis and its various compounds.
Paul Armentano Deputy Director NORML | NORML Foundation Washington, DC January 15, 2009
