CANNABIS: THE CANCER CURE?

Re. "Marijuana not totally safe," by Michael Orlin, letters May
13:

Immunosuppression, increased risk of heart attack, high blood
pressure and cancer do not seem to be, "side effects" of using
cannabis (marijuana). Those conditions have been found to be helped
by cannabis. Redford Givens exposed how immunosuppression is not
linked to cannabis with a list of sources (Letter: "Marijuana Myths," May 17).

Cannabis can increase heart rate when someone starts smoking the
plant, however, it also can cause lowering of blood pressure after a
few minutes. Preliminary studies in animals show that cannabinoids
can lower blood pressure by dilating the blood vessels. Some doctors
suggest patients with high blood pressure use cannabis and find it
helps and allows patients to reduce their high blood pressure
medications. Medication which have side effects including death. See:
http://mcsocal.com/blog/marijuana-cannabis-and-hypertension-high-blood-pressure/.

Although Michael Orlin wants people to believe cannabis is a "drug"
which causes cancer, there simply is not one single dead body to prove
it. The U.S. spent about $1 trillion to prohibit cannabis, and if they
could produce even one single dead body to show cannabis causes
cancer, the whole world would know about it. That's why Orlin's claims
are "hard to quantify." So while cannabis may contain 50 percent to 70
percent more carcinogens than cigarette smoke, cigarettes kill over
1,000 Americans daily and cannabis hasn't killed anyone in over 5,000
years. Scientists believe that may be due to the anti-inflammatory and
anti-oxidant effects of some of the components of cannabis.

Donald Tashkin at UCLA has spent nearly 40 years investigating the
harmful effects of inhaled marijuana on the lungs and indicates that
people who don't smoke tobacco but smoke marijuana have a lower risk
of developing lung cancer than "tobacco smokers"; he has also found
that regular marijuana smoking may in fact actually be associated
with a decreased risk of lung cancer. See:
http://today.ucsf.edu/stories/on-the-spot-dr-abrams-responds/

At Brown University, another study with people who had head or neck
cancers indicates those who had used cannabis for a decade or two were
significantly less likely to develop these cancers than those who did
not use cannabis. In fact, their rates of cancer were less than half
the rate among non-users.
http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2009/07/28/1940-6207.CAPR-09-0048.abstract

Cannabinoids inhibit tumor growth, so cannabis can't cause cancer.
Cannabinoids show promise for battling cancer, not creating it.
http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/pdf/1477-7517-2-21.pdf

Reading study after study how cannabis does not cause cancer and in
fact helps people with health-related problems - including avoiding
cancer, shrinking cancerous tumors, chemo treatment and living with
cancer - and then reading what cannabis prohibitionists have to say, I
am convinced cannabis prohibitionists are harmful to the human race.
What if that trillion dollars was put toward curing cancer instead of
prohibiting what God says is good; cannabis?

And since statistics indicate 1 out of every 3 or 4 Americans will
confront cancer, which averages out to every American family, that is
an important question to consider for the way We spend the next
trillion dollars, regarding cannabis.

Orlin is right about one thing though. Comparing alcohol with cannabis
is like comparing apples and oranges; that is rotten apples and fresh
oranges.

Stan White

Dillon