It has been almost a year since I reblogged this article about research concerning the tumor-shrinking qualities of marijuana:
https://judydykstrabrown.com/2015/08/27/biologist-explains-how-marijuana-causes-tumor-cells-to-commit-suicide/

I had actually forgotten this article until today’s “health” prompt led me to search my own blog.  Then, after rereading it, two other recent conversations sprung to mind.  One was a friend who is experiencing chronic pain.  I saw him recently and he told me of his success in using marijuana oil suppositories in place of the strong pain medication he has been forced to use just to function for the past ten years.  He shared with me this  article which deals with the medical uses of marijuana oil for a number of medical conditions including cancer.

Here is an excerpt from this long and detailed article: “When a person smokes a joint, over 90% of the medicinal aspects of the plant material just went up in smoke. It’s ironic for me to see patients who have taken chemotherapy smoking hemp to reduce their nausea, for they are smoking the very substance which, if taken properly, could cure them. To me, there is little or no comparison between smoking cannabis and ingesting the essential oil from this plant to treat a medical condition. If you are simply seeking a little relief from your condition, smoking cannabis may be of some benefit. But if you want to treat the condition properly, ingesting the oil is the best way to accomplish this. There is no question that even smoking cannabis does have some medicinal benefits, but don’t expect to cure a serious condition in this manner.”

William Randolph Hearst is often credited with being the main agent in the vilification of marijuana, but in his  weekly science podcast, Skeptoid, Brian Dunning addressed the facts and myths surrounding the topic of the vilification of hemp in the U.S.:

“California had banned non-prescription cannabis in 1913 as part of a campaign against drugs that was largely anti-Chinese; New York City in 1914; Texas in 1915. Enforcement was almost entirely against Mexican and black communities. . . . .Hearst’s newspapers absolutely did sensationalize and exaggerate marijuana crimes and the dangers of the drug, but so did virtually all publications of the day. Anslinger’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics pumped a constant stream of hysterical press releases to satiate the media, blaming murders on single reefer doses of the drug, and all sorts of crazy amplifications. A 1936 church film called Tell Your Children was massively promoted nationwide and remade by Hollywood as the 1938 Reefer Madness, a cautionary tale designed to show the horrific results of marijuana. By the time the Marihuana Tax Act was passed, the United States population was well primed to view cannabis as the deadly symbol of the criminal immigrant class. . . . Cannabis hardly needed a conspiracy of Hearst and DuPont to put it out of business by the 1930s. It had already been doomed to extinction by racism, class warfare, and a complicit government and media to feed them. Though we often tend to look toward the rich and powerful to point the blame for society’s missteps, oftentimes the true root of the problem is uncomfortably in our own back yards.”  (You can read transcripts of the rest of his podcast here: https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4401)

Due to this vilification of hemp, many of its traditional and utilitarian benefits were hidden from widespread public view, but need is a great educator and as more and more of those in the boomer generation experience the debilitating effects of arthritis, hip and knee replacement, glaucoma, spinal injuries, diabetes and cancer,  people I would not have expected to laud the curative and palliative qualities of marijuana have begun to do so.

It was news of an acquaintance who cured his pancreatic cancer in a matter of months that has given me additional cause  to share the two articles above.  My husband died in three weeks of pancreatic cancer that was detected at the same stage as the cancer of this man, who started to use marijuana oil to treat his cancer.  According to a mutual friend, within four months, there were no more signs of cancer. (I have been meaning to interview this man and if there is sufficient interest shown, I will do so.  Let me know in “Comments” if you’d like to hear more on this topic.)

Now that 24 states and the District of Columbia  have laws legalizing marijuana in some form and four states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use, the cloud that has hovered over it for over fifty years has begun to lift. The internet was brand spanking new when my friend and I were looking for any possible alternative treatment for my husband’s cancer, and the above articles had not yet been written.  I present them here for you to make of them what you will, knowing that in dire circumstances, great headway is sometimes made in overcoming past prejudices.

P.S.  Thanks, Hirundine, for furnishing this further URL to obtain information about Marijuana oil:  http://phoenixtears.ca/ I also want to print this warning from the man who wrote the book Phoenix Tears and who operates that website:

‘This is the only real Rick Simpson web site. Make your own oil and be aware of scammers.
We do not supply oil, we are providing information. The only way to know that you have the real thing, is to produce the proper oil yourself. There are many criminals who say that they are producing RSO, and who are using Rick’s name. Rick Simpson has no connection with these suppliers and he has no involvement with the Phoenix Tears Foundation from the U.S., although there is a link on their web site which leads to his web site and Facebook page.”