October is upon us, which means we’re geared up for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The international campaign aimed at increasing public awareness of the disease and at the same time, to encourage women to keep up with regular health checks and monitoring.
A moment for reflection:
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer.
Breast cancer kills almost 2 million woman per year
For years cannabis has been hitting headlines with incredible stories from cancer patients. From combating symptoms of radioactive therapy to improving end-stage quality of life, to extending life and in a growing body of evidence cancer cells have been destroyed by cannabinoid therapy.
Whilst much more clinical research is needed, a not insignificant amount of preclinical evidence is showing the medical and scientific community that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound (cannabinoid) derived from cannabis plants such as industrial hemp, can inhibit and even kill cancer cells. Whilst cancer is a broad term, the expectation that CBD could be a potential treatment for Breast cancer is an intriguing possibility.
These findings of CBD’s efficacy for breast tumors are extremely promising, as “certain breast tumors are resistant to conventional therapies and a considerable number of them relapse.”
Recently the US National Cancer Institute acknowledged the anti-tumor potential of CBD. A range of cannabinoids may create antitumor effects through a broad array of pharma-kinetic mechanisms, including inhibition of cancer cell growth, induction of cancer cell death, and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis invasion and metastasis.
- A 2011 study conducted by the American Association for Cancer Research found that CBD inflicts programmed cell death in breast cancer cells. The researchers found that CBD inhibited the survival of estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer cell lines and induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner.
- In 2007, Dr. Sean McAllister and his colleagues at the California Pacific Medical Research Institute found that CBD was a very potent inhibitor of aggressive and metastasized breast cancer.
- Just last year, researchers from Hokuriku University found that cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), the acidic precursor of CBD, prevents the spread of breast cancer cells.
To ignore cannabis and CBD specifically is woefully neglectful, with so much potential in a plant to work wonders for a disease that has become such a rampant killer it’s about time the world woke up and begun investing efforts into understanding and providing access to those who choose to try it.
Actress Olivia Newton-John last month faced the world with the declaration that she’d been using cannabinoid therapy to relieve the effects of her breast cancer.
The actress, who learned in May that breast cancer had returned and metastasized to her lower back, insisted the natural remedy is working wonders.
Olivia also praised California’s steps to legalise cannabis, making obtaining it far easier than in back home in Australia. ‘I use medicinal cannabis, which is really important for pain and healing… ‘It’s a plant that has been maligned for so long, and has so many abilities to heal,’ she said.
Article written with credits to EchoConnection MedicalJane PubMed
