U.S. Government knew THC fights cancer cells in 1974
Posted: Sat 10th Feb 2007 11:28 pm
THIS NEWS ARTICLE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.................
US: Pot Shrinks Tumors; Government Knew In '74
The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in February
2000, when researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed
incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the
active ingredient in cannabis.
The Madrid study marks only the second time that THC has been
administered to tumor-bearing animals. In 1974, researchers at the
Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the National
Institutes of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the
immune system, found 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, who reports on the
events in his book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes. In 1976,
President Gerald Ford 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 Madrid researchers reported in the March issue of Nature
Medicine that they injected the brains of 45 rats with cancer cells,
producing tumors whose presence they confirmed through magnetic
resonance imaging ( MRI ). On the 12th day they injected 15 of the
rats with THC and 15 with Win-55,212-2, a synthetic compound similar
to THC. "All the rats left untreated uniformly died 12-18 days
after glioma ( brain cancer ) cell inoculation ... Cannabinoid (
THC )-treated rats survived significantly longer than control rats.
THC administration was ineffective in three rats, which died by days
16-18. Nine of the THC-treated rats surpassed the time of death of
untreated rats, and survived up to 19-35 days. Moreover, the tumor
was completely eradicated in three of the treated rats." The rats
treated with Win-55,212-2 showed similar results.
The Spanish researchers, led by Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense
University, also irrigated healthy rats' brains with large doses of
THC for seven days, to test for harmful biochemical or neurological
effects. They found none.
"Careful MRI analysis of all those tumor-free rats showed no sign of
damage related to necrosis, edema, infection or trauma ... We also
examined other potential side effects of cannabinoid administration.
In both tumor-free and tumor-bearing rats, cannabinoid
administration induced no substantial change in behavioral
parameters such as motor coordination or physical activity. Food
and water intake, as well as body weight gain, were unaffected
during and after cannabinoid delivery. Likewise, the general
hematological profiles of cannabinoid-treated rats were normal.
Thus, neither biochemical parameters nor markers of tissue damage
changed substantially during the seven-day delivery period or for at
least two months after cannabinoid treatment ended."
Guzman's investigation is the only time since the 1974 Virginia
study that THC has been administered to live, tumor-bearing animals.
( The Spanish researchers cite a 1998 study in which cannabinoids
inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation, but that was a "petri
dish" experiment that didn't involve live subjects. )
In an e-mail interview for this story, the Madrid researcher said he
had heard of the Virginia study, but had never been able to locate
literature on it. Hence, the Nature Medicine article characterizes
the new study as the first on tumor-laden animals and doesn't cite
the 1974 Virginia investigation.
"I am aware of the existence of that research. In fact I have
attempted many times to obtain the journal article on the original
investigation by these people, but it has proven impossible," Guzman
said.
In 1983, the Reagan/Bush Administration tried to persuade American
universities and researchers to destroy all 1966-76 cannabis
research work, including compendiums in libraries, reports Jack
Herer, who states, "We know that large amounts of information have
since disappeared."
Guzman provided the title of the work -- "Antineoplastic activity of
cannabinoids," an article in a 1975 Journal of the National Cancer
Institute -- and this writer obtained a copy at the University of
California medical school library in Davis and faxed it to Madrid.
The summary of the Virginia study begins, "Lewis lung adenocarcinoma
growth was retarded by the oral administration of
tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC ) and cannabinol ( CBN )" -- two types of
cannabinoids, a family of active components in marijuana. "Mice
treated for 20 consecutive days with THC and CBN had reduced primary
tumor size."
The 1975 journal article doesn't mention breast cancer tumors, which
are featured in the only newspaper story ever to appear about the
1974 study -- in the "Local" section of The Washington Post on Aug.
18, 1974. Under the headline, "Cancer Curb Is Studied," it read in
part:
"The active chemical agent in marijuana curbs the growth of three
kinds of cancer in mice and may also suppress the immunity reaction
that causes rejection of organ transplants, a Medical College of
Virginia team has discovered." The researchers "found that THC
slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers, and a
virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives
by as much as 36 percent."
Guzman, writing from Madrid, was eloquent in his response after this
writer faxed him the clipping from The Washington Post of a quarter
century ago. In translation, he wrote:
"It is extremely interesting to me, the hope that the project seemed
to awaken at that moment, and the sad evolution of events during the
years following the discovery, until now we once again draw back the
veil, over the anti-tumoral power of THC, 25 years later.
Unfortunately, the world bumps along between such moments of hope
and long periods of intellectual castration."
News coverage of the Madrid discovery has been virtually nonexistent
in this country. The news broke quietly on Feb. 29, 2000 with a
story that ran once on the UPI wire about the Nature Medicine
article. This writer stumbled on it through a link that appeared
briefly on the Drudge Report Web page. The New York Times, The
Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times all ignored the story, even
though its newsworthiness is indisputable: a benign substance
occurring in nature destroys deadly brain tumors.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1011/a04.html
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1576.html
http://www.alternet.org/story/9257/
US: Pot Shrinks Tumors; Government Knew In '74
The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in February
2000, when researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed
incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the
active ingredient in cannabis.
The Madrid study marks only the second time that THC has been
administered to tumor-bearing animals. In 1974, researchers at the
Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the National
Institutes of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the
immune system, found 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, who reports on the
events in his book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes. In 1976,
President Gerald Ford 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 Madrid researchers reported in the March issue of Nature
Medicine that they injected the brains of 45 rats with cancer cells,
producing tumors whose presence they confirmed through magnetic
resonance imaging ( MRI ). On the 12th day they injected 15 of the
rats with THC and 15 with Win-55,212-2, a synthetic compound similar
to THC. "All the rats left untreated uniformly died 12-18 days
after glioma ( brain cancer ) cell inoculation ... Cannabinoid (
THC )-treated rats survived significantly longer than control rats.
THC administration was ineffective in three rats, which died by days
16-18. Nine of the THC-treated rats surpassed the time of death of
untreated rats, and survived up to 19-35 days. Moreover, the tumor
was completely eradicated in three of the treated rats." The rats
treated with Win-55,212-2 showed similar results.
The Spanish researchers, led by Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense
University, also irrigated healthy rats' brains with large doses of
THC for seven days, to test for harmful biochemical or neurological
effects. They found none.
"Careful MRI analysis of all those tumor-free rats showed no sign of
damage related to necrosis, edema, infection or trauma ... We also
examined other potential side effects of cannabinoid administration.
In both tumor-free and tumor-bearing rats, cannabinoid
administration induced no substantial change in behavioral
parameters such as motor coordination or physical activity. Food
and water intake, as well as body weight gain, were unaffected
during and after cannabinoid delivery. Likewise, the general
hematological profiles of cannabinoid-treated rats were normal.
Thus, neither biochemical parameters nor markers of tissue damage
changed substantially during the seven-day delivery period or for at
least two months after cannabinoid treatment ended."
Guzman's investigation is the only time since the 1974 Virginia
study that THC has been administered to live, tumor-bearing animals.
( The Spanish researchers cite a 1998 study in which cannabinoids
inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation, but that was a "petri
dish" experiment that didn't involve live subjects. )
In an e-mail interview for this story, the Madrid researcher said he
had heard of the Virginia study, but had never been able to locate
literature on it. Hence, the Nature Medicine article characterizes
the new study as the first on tumor-laden animals and doesn't cite
the 1974 Virginia investigation.
"I am aware of the existence of that research. In fact I have
attempted many times to obtain the journal article on the original
investigation by these people, but it has proven impossible," Guzman
said.
In 1983, the Reagan/Bush Administration tried to persuade American
universities and researchers to destroy all 1966-76 cannabis
research work, including compendiums in libraries, reports Jack
Herer, who states, "We know that large amounts of information have
since disappeared."
Guzman provided the title of the work -- "Antineoplastic activity of
cannabinoids," an article in a 1975 Journal of the National Cancer
Institute -- and this writer obtained a copy at the University of
California medical school library in Davis and faxed it to Madrid.
The summary of the Virginia study begins, "Lewis lung adenocarcinoma
growth was retarded by the oral administration of
tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC ) and cannabinol ( CBN )" -- two types of
cannabinoids, a family of active components in marijuana. "Mice
treated for 20 consecutive days with THC and CBN had reduced primary
tumor size."
The 1975 journal article doesn't mention breast cancer tumors, which
are featured in the only newspaper story ever to appear about the
1974 study -- in the "Local" section of The Washington Post on Aug.
18, 1974. Under the headline, "Cancer Curb Is Studied," it read in
part:
"The active chemical agent in marijuana curbs the growth of three
kinds of cancer in mice and may also suppress the immunity reaction
that causes rejection of organ transplants, a Medical College of
Virginia team has discovered." The researchers "found that THC
slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers, and a
virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives
by as much as 36 percent."
Guzman, writing from Madrid, was eloquent in his response after this
writer faxed him the clipping from The Washington Post of a quarter
century ago. In translation, he wrote:
"It is extremely interesting to me, the hope that the project seemed
to awaken at that moment, and the sad evolution of events during the
years following the discovery, until now we once again draw back the
veil, over the anti-tumoral power of THC, 25 years later.
Unfortunately, the world bumps along between such moments of hope
and long periods of intellectual castration."
News coverage of the Madrid discovery has been virtually nonexistent
in this country. The news broke quietly on Feb. 29, 2000 with a
story that ran once on the UPI wire about the Nature Medicine
article. This writer stumbled on it through a link that appeared
briefly on the Drudge Report Web page. The New York Times, The
Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times all ignored the story, even
though its newsworthiness is indisputable: a benign substance
occurring in nature destroys deadly brain tumors.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1011/a04.html
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1576.html
http://www.alternet.org/story/9257/