Can marijuana really cure cancer? Let's ask the experts!

May 30, 2018 / BIOON / -- for thousands of years, people have used marijuana as a variety of entertainment, ritual and medical purposes In modern society, the medical use of marijuana may be very exciting for many scientists In many opinions about marijuana, perhaps the most daring one is that "using marijuana can cure cancer" It's easy to find stories on the Internet about marijuana and its derivatives that shrink tumors or cure patients with advanced cancer Although these stories are very attractive, they are often based on some misunderstandings, or outright lies First of all, we can consider the medical efficacy of cannabis Contrary to what most people think, researchers have conducted a very extensive research and Exploration on the medical use of cannabis In 2017, a review article from the National Academy of Sciences reviewed 10000 studies, and found some uses of cannabis, including effective treatment and chronic pain and spasm related to multiple sclerosis There is research evidence that THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, can reduce nausea caused by chemotherapy Indeed, as a synthetic form of THC, dronabinol has been prescribed by doctors for decades But more importantly, there is no evidence that marijuana has any therapeutic or beneficial effects on cancer treatment, although many believe it has a role So why is there such a big gap between public perception and scientific evidence? Part of this may be due to a common misconception, for example, that high doses of THC can kill cancer cells in a culture dish, which is true, but it doesn't seem to make much sense It's very easy to kill the cells in the culture dish You can use heat, or even anything like bleaching powder But effective anti-cancer drugs can not only selectively kill the cancer cells in the human body, but also can't damage the healthy cells in the patient's body In fact, cannabis root can't do this Other advocates of cannabis in the natural state are driven by fixed ideology In most cases, people think that cannabis is natural and more effective than drugs, but this is a typical example of calling for the natural view, and it is very suspicious The word "natural" is a bit vague If we define nature as a situation without human intervention, then this argument seems to be untenable For example, arsenic, plutonium and cyanide are also natural It seems to be very harmful to ingest these substances in large quantities Researchers have found the active ingredients of drugs in many plants, so that they can effectively control the dosage and the maximum effect of drugs in the later period Now we have thc derived drugs, but they do not seem to cure cancer, nor can cannabis Some advocates of cannabis think that the anti-cancer effect of cannabis is covered by many pharmaceutical companies, which seems to be some nonsense, Such a plot is also huge and will soon collapse About half of the people will be troubled by cancer in their lifetime A treatment method will not only bring huge profits, but also the Patent Law on natural products is more complex, which will bring financial rewards and some scientific honors to the discoverers of the treatment Cancer is a very complex disease, patients are not likely to use a single treatment, and marijuana seems to be able to be used to treat chemotherapy cancer patients with nausea and other adverse reactions, but it does not seem to have much effect on curing cancer Reference materials: [1] grandfather, 63, claims he curled his cancer with 'breaking bad' style Homemate cannabis oil [2] dronabinol [3] cannabis, cannabinoids and cancer – the evidence so far [4] cannabins and cannabinoids (PDQ? )–Health Professional Version 【5】 Appeal to nature 【6】 On the Viability of Conspiratorial Beliefs PLoS ONE
doi：10.1371/journal.pone.0147905 【7】 Lifetime risk of cancer 【8】 Can You Patent A Natural Product？ Prepare For a Different Answer 【9】 Does cannabis cure cancer？ We asked an expert