Watch: THC Kills Cancer Cells

This article originally appeared on Cannabis Now.

THC has a miraculous capacity to help those who suffer from cancer. The wonder compound increases appetite, reduces nausea and can even help to quell pains that patients suffer from cancer and its unpleasant list of symptoms. However, despite the numerous findings and studies that have been published about this, cannabis is still vilified by the government and kept federally illegal.

A clip from documentary called Clearing the Smoke depicts a microscopic view of cancer cells that have had THC administered to them, which causes the malignant cells to weaken and eventually die completely.

In the beginning of the video, the malignant cancer cells are seen quickly moving under the lens of the microscope. But as the THC molecules begin to affect them, they turn blue and begin to slow down. Eventually they cease moving completely and some can even be seen dying from the effects of the THC near the end of the clip.

The video itself is fantastic visual evidence that THC, even administered in low doses (as was depicted), can be a highly-effective tool in the ongoing fight against cancer.

News as exciting as this is not something new to the federal government; in fact, a study that was published in the August 18, 1974 issue of the Washington Post reported that THC “slowed the growth of lung cancer, breast cancers, and virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives as much as 36 percent.”

The results themselves read: “Animals treated for 10 consecutive days with delta-9-THC, beginning the day after tumor implantation, demonstrated a dose-dependent action of retarded tumor growth. Mice treated for 20 consecutive days with delta-8-THC and CBN had reduced primary tumor size.”

The study was conducted by a team of researchers at the Medical College of Virginia acting on the behalf of the federal government. Unfortunately, the government was unhappy with the results and had U.S. officials dismiss the study completely. It was then buried it under the Watergate scandal. The findings were eventually published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute a year later.

No new reports of findings regarding THC and cancer surfaced after this study until a clinical trial that was conducted in the mid-1990s. This study was conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology program and worked off a $2 million federal budget.

The clinical trials gave very similar results: “that mice and rats administered high doses of THC over long periods experienced greater protection against malignant tumors than untreated controls.”

Even tests conducted throughout the world have found similar results to these. In 1998, researchers at Madrid’s Complutense University released a study that concluded that by administering THC to malignant brain tumor cells, the doctors were able to selectively induce apoptosis, or planned cell death. This allowed the researchers to systematically kill individual cancer cells without harming any of the nearby healthy cells.

And yet government officials and politicians have been adamant in keeping the law the same and condemning cannabis to be federally illegal, making this form of treatment an impossibility for a majority of U.S. cancer patients.

Hopefully this video will be enough visual and scientific proof that THC can be beneficial to be used by those suffering from cancer. At the very least, it may be able to save a few lives from suffering and bring new hope to those who are fighting cancer.

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