U.S. Government Stopped Research After Finding That Marijuana Slowed Cancer Growth
NORML's Paul Armentano has a disturbing account of the history of government research regarding the benefits of THC as a potential cancer treatment:
Not familiar with this scientific research? Your government is.In fact, the first experiment documenting pot's potent anti-cancer effects
took place in 1974 at the Medical College of Virginia at the behest federal
bureaucrats. The results of that study, reported in an Aug. 18, 1974,
Washington Post newspaper feature, were that marijuana's primary
psychoactive component, THC, "slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast
cancers and a virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their
lives by as much as 36 percent."Despite these favorable preliminary findings (eventually published the
following year in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute), U.S.
government officials refused to authorize any follow-up research until
conducting a similar - though secret - clinical trial in the mid-1990s. That
study, conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology Program to the tune of $2
million, concluded that mice and rats administered high doses of THC over
long periods had greater protection against malignant tumors than untreated
controls.However, rather than publicize their findings, government researchers
shelved the results, which only became public after a draft copy of its
findings were leaked to the medical journal AIDS Treatment News, which in
turn forwarded the story to the national media. [timesheraldonline.com]
They haven't studied the issue since. And because the U.S. government holds a monopoly on "legal" marijuana that could be used for research purposes, they've been able to prevent independent researchers from further investigating marijuana's promising anti-cancer properties. Armentano notes that research overseas continues to produce very encouraging results.
Unfortunately, our government's blockade against marijuana/cancer research is so mindless and vindictive that it's almost impossible to convince anyone that they do things like this. It's a terrible and frequent conundrum for reformers that if we accurately describe the behavior of our opposition, we end up sounding crazy.
digg
redditCensoring Science
Comment posted by Giordano on Sat, 06/21/2008 - 3:27pmIf we are to understand the drug warriors by their actions in this case, it would appear that the alleged superiority of the health care system in the United States is illusionary in critically dangerous ways.
What seems to matter to the federal drug moralists is not the health of the human body, but rather the purity of the soul. No indeed. Can’t rely on Mother Nature to help you if you’re sick, ‘cause illness is a punishment of the gods, or whatever.
The drug-warrior-based decision also points to the fact that health care matters are not being decided by competent medical specialists or scientists in the U.S., but rather the decisions appear to be coming from the kind of religious types who would reject a blood transfusion and die simply because they believe blood transfusions are a form of cannibalism.
To be clear, any competent scientist should know that by understanding how cannabinols mediate cancer, this tiny bit of information could very well be an essential piece to the puzzle leading to the additional R&D that knocks out the disease. The federal ‘deciders’ don’t get it because they want to be scientifically ignorant. Or they’re psychopaths.
The fact that the feds are negligent in the matter of blocking potentially lifesaving cannabis research is a humanitarian crime that should be on the front pages of every newspaper in the country, or the world, for that matter. After all, the idealist drug warrior bastards are trying to kill us.
Giordano
Governed by Morons
Comment posted by be_natural on Fri, 06/20/2008 - 12:17pmI am glad there are politicians running to end the drug war because they are educated enough to know that marijuana is useful and can help people in this country. However, it is unfortunate that the ones currently in office are too ignorant to see the benefits. How can a plant that God put on this earth for a reason be illegal? It is a plant! Get real! The reasons that marijuana is illegal are nonsense! "It will make you go crazy and kill your brother!" That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Isn't our government supposed to be made up of intelligent people? This shows quite the contrary. Chemotherapy is basically dosing a cancer patient with radiation (which causes cancer) and chemicals such as arsenic. I am baffled as to why this is a legitimate treatment. Why was research stopped when it was discovered that marijuana slowed tumor growth? Not only does it help with cancer, but it also has no negative side effects. It is so incredibly selfish that our government allows illogical things like this to happen just so they can make more money. Furthermore, does it make sense to that our government supports "legal drugs" such as Xanax, Oxycontin, and Loritab when it is used more for recreation than it is for medicinal purposes? The affects of those drugs are disastrous! What about alcohol? How is alcohol legal when it is the number one cause of deaths in America due to drunk driving? You do not often hear about marijuana related deaths. So, why is it illegal? Free country my ass! The people do not govern the country anymore. I do not think I should have to go by foolish laws that I, as a citizen, did not agree to make. Legalize marijuana for the better of our country!