The Leaf THE LEAF Jan-Feb 2019 | Page 28

Cannabis Kills All Types of Cancer Cells That Science Has Tested so Far By Dr Cheryl Strayed (Healthinfo) 1.12.2018 Standard cancer treatment must be adapted to the type and location of tumour, whereas cannabis is an equal opportunity killer. Cannabis kills all types of cancer cells. Curing cancer is the holy grail of medical research and it’s the most-coveted breakthrough of our time. If we could discover a way to prevent malignant cells from overrunning the human body, not only would we save millions of lives, we would end years of suffering. And, we could finally feel superior to sharks which are rumoured to be cancer free Even if the same treatments are effective at stopping the cancer, the collateral damage to brain cells is just too risky. But when cannabis treats cancer, it doesn’t cause the kind of negative side effects that chemotherapy, for instance, does. Although human trials and solid scientific research are still a ways off, early studies indicated that cannabis might be the one truly universal way to kill cancer cells. Cannabis Stops Blood Vessel Formation For All Types of Tumours Is cannabis the way? Studies, so far, show that cannabis kills all types of cancer cells. One Treatment Doesn’t Fit All While chemotherapy and radiation have certainly helped humanity’s battle against cancer, research into the recently discovered (1990s) endocannabinoid system keeps providing new information about how tumours form, spread and turn deadly. But cancer isn’t just one thing. It’s an umbrella term for a collection of related illnesses. What unites these is the method of mayhem: cancer divides and spreads like ants at a picnic. And because it’s not just one kind of ant, we’ve developed slightly different ways to deal with each species. Partially, that’s because when cancer infects the brain, we can’t necessarily handle it the way we would handle cancer in the foot. One of the key ways that cannabis combats cancer is through anti-angiogenic effects. That sounds like a mouthful, but the concept is straightforward. Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels form from old ones — like a potato sprouting. New blood vessels are how wounds heal, people grow, and new and better pathways form for circulation. It’s a vital and healthy part of the body’s daily regimen. But it’s also how tumours transition from benign growths to malignant cancers. Cancer creates cells that don’t have the ability to divide in a controlled fashion, leading to out-of-control growth. But what fuels that growth? For tumours to get larger and spread, they need a supply of essential nutrients and oxygen, which they get from the bloodstream. So when a cancer begins to grow, it has to do so at the same rate as the blood vessels which nourish it.