MORE EVIDENCE THAT MARIJUANA PREVENTS CANCER

New Study Finds That Marijuana Smokers Have a Lower Risk of Head and
Neck Cancers.

Among the more interesting pieces of news that came out while I was
on vacation the first half of August was a new study in the journal
Cancer Prevention Research, which found that marijuana smokers have a
lower risk of head and neck cancers than people who don't smoke
marijuana. Alas, this important research has been largely ignored by
the news media.

While this type of study cannot conclusively prove cause and effect,
the combination of this new study and existing research -- which for
decades has shown that cannabinoids are fairly potent anticancer
drugs -- raises a significant possibility that marijuana use is in
fact protective against certain types of cancer.

A team of researchers from several major universities conducted what
is known as a "case-control" study, comparing patients who had
squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth, larynx, and pharynx with
control patients matched for age, gender, and residence location who
did not have cancer. By looking at matched groups with and without
cancer, researchers hope to find patterns indicating risk or
protective factors. In this case they focused on marijuana use, but
also took into account known risk factors for this type of cancer,
including tobacco and alcohol use.

After adjusting for those confounding factors, current marijuana
users had a 48% reduced risk of head and neck cancer, and the
reduction was statistically significant. Former users also had a
lower risk, though it fell short of being significant. The
investigators crunched the numbers several different ways -- for
example, by amount of marijuana used or the frequency of use -- and
the findings stayed the same nearly across the board, with moderate
users showing the strongest and most consistent reduction in cancer risk.

The scientists write, "We found that moderate marijuana use was
significantly associated with reduced risk HNSCC [head and neck
squamous cell carcinoma]. The association was consistent across
different measures of marijuana use (marijuana use status, duration,
and frequency of use)."

Strikingly, among drinkers and cigarette smokers, those who also used
marijuana reduced their cancer risk compared to those who only drank
and smoked cigarettes. So marijuana may actually have been countering
the known bad effects of booze and cigarettes.