http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12130702&dopt=Abstract

Instead of emphasizing that THC helps kill cancer cells, they seem to note that immunosuppression is possible in the living state.

Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists May Be Novel Class of Anti-Lymphoma Agents http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/439267

The article is behind their login, so to read it, you'll have to register. But the crux of the article is that:

A Dr. Mitzi Nagarkatti of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has discoverd that Delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol and other cannabinoids induce apoptosis in murine tumors of immune origin.

Compounds that bind CB2 receptors selectively induce apoptosis in these cancer cells, she said. Moreover, "compounds that interact with CB2 will not exhibit psychotropic effects."

Friends, this is another bombshell. First, the revelations that the the Spaniard to found that THC shrank brain tumors learns the US government beat him to the punch...over twenty five years ago...and buried the information.

Now we learn (surprise, surprise!) that cannabis is good for PTSD.

And now this.

If another anti says that marijuana is not medicine, slap 'em in the face with this. Then ask if his family history includes cancer...then ask him if he's had a physical lately; the odds of getting cancer in your lifetime is slowly edging up to 50%.

On second thought, why bother? The less of them around, the better. If ignorance is bliss, they must be the happiest people on Earth; why ruin that?

Is it just me, or does it seem that we are in the beginning of a 'dam-burst' of information about the beneficial effects of medicinal cannabis? And at just the right time it's needed?

How about a related idea, that chronic PTSD involves damage to the CB1 system?

There's also something called interstitial cystitis, a bladder condition that involves chronic inflammation and muscle spasm and intense referred pain.

Eating pot works pretty well for that.

So maybe that is caused by cannabinoid deficiency as well.

This sounds like the revolution in cannabinoid science is past the point where it can be impeded by narco warriors like Leshner.

This is a sad day for American science, however, because this was a discovery that should have rightly been made in America. America is where PTSD was named and first studied, American military doctors first observed the link between cannabinoids and PTSD recovery.

But this was not discovered in America, because of the cowardice and complacency of the American science and medical establishment and the complicity of a whole generation of PTSD treatment specialists working for the federal government.

I took some Marinol with me to the hospital when I had surgery and I hardly had to hit the morphine drip at all, the nurse was amazed at how little I used. My bowels moved sooner and they let me out a day earlier than they thought.

Morphine lengthens recovery time from surgery because it stops up your bowels. Having a normal bowel movement is what they look for after abdominal surgery to tell whether your surgery is healing properly inside.

Hospital bean counters would be happy if Marinol were combined with morphine for post surgery pain relief because people would be ready to leave the hospital sooner.

So the narco terrorists who like to rip up pot plantations are ripping up their own medicine, not just ours.

Think of the number of Vietnam veterans who were subjected to organized legal narco terror because they were trying to legitimately medicate injuries sustained fighting for this country.

But their shrinks at the VA knew that marijuana was their medication. In fact, doctors DURING the Vietnam War knew that soldiers who smoked marijuana regularly suffered far less from "combat fatigue" which was what PTSD was called during Vietnam. YOu can find that research if you search Medline back to the seventies.

The name PTSD did not arise until the problems of Vietnam veterans were studied and given a name.

Read Trauma and Recovery by Judith Hermann, and think about marijuana prohibition in the context of her groundbreaking work on the social political and medical contexts of traumatization and healing.

Yes this has a lot to do with Vietnam.

A lot more than is being appreciated right now.

When Telemachos went looking for his lost father Odysseus, he wound up at the home of Helen of Troy. Helen, seeing how distraught he was at his fruitless search and severely depressed demeanor, gave him what the Greeks referred to as lethe. It supposedly banished sadness and melancholy. Telemachos was able to leave Helen's house in good spirits and resume the search for his wayward father.

Yes, the Odyssey was a myth, a highly embellished 'fireside tale'. But given that most myths had a kernel of truth embedded in them. I think it is fair to say that the classical interpretation has always been that lethe was a tinture of opium suspended in wine...a form of laudanum.

But now, given these latest findings, might not the Greeks of antiquity been referring to cannabis? After all, nearly all of the modern pharmacopeia came from herbal medicine. The Greeks had plenty of experience with psychotropics; the Eleusinian Mysteries immediately come to mind.

The research of Lutz et al. demonstrates the integral role that the endocannabinoid system plays in our normal everyday neurophysiology. "Endocannabinoids," or endogenous cannabinoids are the natural substances (anandamide, 2-arachidonylglycerol, noladine ether) that act on the same receptors as THC. They are proving to have essential roles in modulation of pain, memory, movement, and immunomodulation. Without them, we'd be in a proverbial world of hurt.

Somewhere in the course of evolution, a marvelous plant emerged in Central Asia that contained phytocannabinoids, plant chemicals that mimicked the effects of these endogenous compounds. (Wo)Man tried it, and (s)he liked it. It relieved pain, eased grief, and spurred imagination and creativity. The plant was selectively cultivated and co-evolved with humans, and spread around the globe.

Some oligarchic few in power over other humans (read: moralistic micro-managers and politicians) have tried to persecute the plant and prevent its use, but in each historical instance they have failed utterly. Denying this plant called cannabis as having a therapeutic role in human medicine is the same as denying our own physiology.

I predict that cannabis and cannabinoids will have a key future role in the treatment of anxiety and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). They might be combined with other techniques, such as EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) to produce synergistic benefits on a condition that has been recalcitrant to standard medical approaches.

The reporting is not the best, perhaps (what evidence is out there that suggests we should warn against the use of cannabis for healthy adults?), but at least this study has made it to print in a major newspaper (look for similar articles in the San Jose Mercury News and other Knight-Ridder publications soon, I would surmise).

************************ "Sah, of the Australian National University, said the latest findings may explain why some people with psychiatric problems try to find relief with marijuana. Although experts often have labeled marijuana use as a contributor to these people's mental illness, he suggested that people with certain psychiatric problems perhaps are self-medicating in an attempt to help their brains extinguish some painful or traumatic memory or thought."