Breakthrough Research Shows Cannabis' Strong Anti-cancer Potential Again

I was reading the NORML Stash Blog this morning, specifically this post. I did a little searching and came up with some more cannabis studies, including reports about US Govt research back in 1974 that showed the anti-cancer properties of cannabinoids. Of course, the government at the time didn't think the public should know about this, so they made every attempt to cover up these findings.

One of the most recent studies conducted by The Hebrew University in Israel, published in 'Molecular Cancer Therapeutics' and partly funded by The National Institute on Drug Abuse (yes, NIDA) backs up the 1974 studies.

There are a number of other relatively recent studies that I'll summarize here. Links to abstracts etc are at the end of this post.

The three studies I looked at today have shown that synthesized cannabidiol (CBD)  and other cannabinoids have halted the spread of, or killed the following cancers:

muscle tissue cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma)
skin/bowel/eye cancers (melanoma types)
brain cancers (glioma)
and especially aggressive breast cancer cells (metastatic breast cancer cells)

Another study has shown that a cannabinoid anti-cancer quinone (growth inhibitor) named HU-331 is more effective and far less dangerous to the heart than a common anti-cancer drug, Doxorubicin.
Most anticancer drugs have a cumulative toxic effect on the heart. HU-331 is not toxic to the body, only cancer cells. Scientists are saying that this cannabinoid may be the next big anticancer drug.

References/sources:

Cannabinoid receptor 1 is a potential drug target for treatment of translocation-positive rhabdomyosarcoma

(Molecular Cancer Therapeutics)

 Cannabidiol as a novel inhibitor of Id-1 gene expression in aggressive breast cancer cells

 (Molecular Cancer Therapeutics)

A Cannabinoid Anticancer Quinone, HU-331, Is More Potent and Less Cardiotoxic Than Doxorubicin: A Comparative in Vivo Study

(The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics) 

 Marijuana cures cancer – US government has known since 1974 

(Patients For Medical Marijuana)

Study: cannabidiol proves effective in fighting brain cancer in the lab

(NORML)