While the scientists say that there is still a "need" for conventional cancer drugs, the day when plant medicines are given their due may be on the horizon. Given the slew of damaging side effects incurred at the hands of chemo and radiation treatment, patients are increasingly turning to cannabis and other medicinal plants like turmeric to get the treatment they need with less harm.
A team of German researchers, led by Professor Burkhard Hinz, have concluded that cannabis compounds can fight cancer. The scientists, hailing from Rostock University Medical Centre in Germany, say that an array of cannabinoids have medicinal value. While many proponents of mainstream medicine have reluctantly agreed that cannabidiol (CBD) is of medicinal value, other compounds, like the controversial tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) remain subject to scorn.
THC is the compound in cannabis which produces a feeling of euphoria or a "high," but research has shown that THC, CBD, and the other compounds in cannabis act in concert, and that these compounds tend to work better together than alone as single molecules.
And now, Professor Hinz and his team have shown that over 100 different studies have indicated cannabis has the ability to treat cancer.
"In this context accumulating data from preclinical models suggest that cannabinoids elicit anti-cancer effects on several levels of cancer progression," Hinz explained.
"Clinical studies are now urgently needed to investigate the impact of cannabinoids on cancer growth and progression in patients," he added.
While clinical research on cannabis in cancer treatment may be lacking, there are many anecdotal accounts of cancer being cured with plant medicine and nothing else.
While the cancer industry is loath to admit it, many patients have had success in treating their cancer at home with cannabis -- after conventional therapies like chemo and radiation failed. In 2015, it was reported a three-year-old boy in Utah had his leukemia successfully treated with cannabis.
That same year, a 33-year-old father from the U.K. reportedly revealed he had treated his "terminal" bowel cancer with cannabis oil -- after chemo, radiation therapy and surgery all failed to remedy his disease. After being told by doctors that he had just 18 months to live, David Hibbitt turned to cannabis and never looked back: In January 2015, medical scans showed he was totally cancer-free.
Cannabis continues to reign king of cancer treatment in 2018, with 52-year-old Joy Smith revealing that she too treated her "incurable" cancer with medical marijuana in spring 2018. Smith was diagnosed with stomach and bowel cancer, and was told by medical professionals that she most likely had just six weeks left to live.
Many of her tumors were deemed inoperable, and chemotherapy was just making her cancer worse. So, Smith turned to cannabis as a last-ditch effort -- and it worked miraculously.
Smith told reporters, "When you’re told you have six weeks to live you’ll try anything, trust me.”
“I was a bit skeptical about the oil at first as I’d never taken drugs or anything like that – but I know I would not be here today without it. I want to tell everybody."
“Cannabis oil should be legalised for medical purposes – people are dying and the chemotherapy isn’t curing them,” the cancer survivor contended.
See more coverage of stories about the cancer industry at Cancer.news.
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