Marijuana Could Cure Cancer And Brain Tumors, Suggests Study

Marijuana can attack certain cancer cells and brain tumors, discovers a new study funded by a research grant awarded to W.M. Liu from GW Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Salisbury, United Kingdom, according to sputniknews.

The animal study was cited by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in a recent report on marijuana. 

The study was conducted by a team of scientists at St. George's University of London, and found that the two most common cannabinoids in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), can weaken the strength of cancer cells and shrink some kind of brain tumor, while research on mice also shows that chemotherapy cell therapy can be enhanced by marijuana cells.

The team of federal researchers that wanted to show that cannabis has "no accepted medical use" may now "unwittingly" have let slip that cannabis can kill cancer cells, according to collective-evolution.

Marijuana is not an approved US Food and Drug Administration medicine, yet chemicals called cannabinoids in the plant are being probed for their potential healing properties. Two medicines that contain these chemicals in the form of pills are being investigated.

"Recent animal studies have shown that marijuana can kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others," the NIDA report reads. "Evidence from one animal study suggests that extracts from whole-plant marijuana can shrink one of the most serious types of brain tumors."

"Research in mice showed that these extracts, when used with radiation, increased the cancer-killing effects of the radiation," it concludes

Although laws legalizing marijuana for medical purposes have been passed by many states, the use of marijuana is still under prohibition by federal law.