Study Shows Marijuana Compounds Can Kill Some Cancer Cells

A scientist in the United Kingdom has found that compounds derived from marijuana can kill cancerous cells found in people with leukemia, a form of cancer that is expected to cause an estimated 24,000 deaths in the United States this year.

"Cannabinoids have a complex action; it hits a number of important processes that cancers need to survive," study author Dr. Wai Liu, an oncologist at the University of London's St. George medical school, told The Huffington Post. "For that reason, it has really good potential over other drugs that only have one function. I am impressed by its activity profile, and feel it has a great future, especially if used with standard chemotherapies."

Liu's study was recently published in the journal Anticancer Research. It was supported by funding from GW Pharmaceuticals, which already makes a cannabis-derived drug used to treat spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis.

The study looked at the effects of six different non-psychoactive cannabinoids -- compounds derived from marijuana that do not cause the "high" associated with its THC ingredient -- when applied alone, and in combination, to leukemia cells. Cannabinoids displayed a "diverse range of therapeutic qualities" that "target and switch off" pathways that allow cancers to grow, Liu told U.S. News & World Report.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Liu stressed that that his research was built around the testing of the six purified cannabinoid forms -- not traditional cannabis oil, which Liu described as "crude" in comparison and generally containing 80-100 different cannabinoids. "We do not really know which are the ones that will be anticancer and those that may be harmful," Liu said.

During the study, Liu and his team grew leukemia cells in a lab and cultured them with increasing doses of the six pure cannabinoids, both individually and in combination with each other. His study says the six cannabinoids were CBD (Cannabidiol), CBDA (Cannabidiolic acid), CBG (Cannbigerol), CBGA (Cannabigerolic acid), CBGV (Cannabigevarin) and CBGVA (Cannabigevaric acid). Liu and his team then assessed the viability of the leukemia cells and determined whether or not the cannabinoids destroyed the cells or stopped them from growing.

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Ireland Ready To Legalize Cannabis

 Ireland is ready to legalize marijuana according to Roscommon TD Luke Ming Flanagan, who published his Cannabis Regulation Bill 2013

Mr. Flanagan estimates legalizing cannabis could generate up to  €300 million through tax revenues and the freeing up of resources. Although Flanagan stresses it is just a estimate and its impossible to know for sure, its still saving Ireland a lot of money. “If cannabis is legalised, we can make a shopping list out of the amount of money which legalising cannabis will save this country,” said the TD. 

 These savings could, he said, lead to the reversal of the recent Budget cuts including cuts to the bereavement grant, cuts to young people’s social welfare payments and the abolition of the telephone allowance. 

The Bill, which is due to be debated in the Dáil on November 5th and 6th, would, if passed:

• regulate cannabis for recreational and medical use

• allow for home cultivation up to a maximum of six cannabis plant

• allow for the personal possession of up to one ounce of cannabis

• allow for the setting up of “Cannabis Social Clubs” which would allow up to 50 club members to cultivate up to 300 plants for not-for-profit use

• set up a “cannabis regulation authority” to regulate the cultivation, sale, labelling, advertising and marketing of cannabis

• see tax revenue from cannabis fund drug addiction services, medical research and juvenile education courses on drugs.

•  include a requirement that the Minister for Justice and Minister for Agriculture to examine the feasibility of the safe regulation and controlled use of cannabis...... 

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Beverly Hills mothers want to legalise cannabis

The majority of Americans now support the legalisation of cannabis, a new survey suggests. 

The Gallup poll suggests 58% of people in the US support the lifting of marijuana restrictions - compared to just 12% in 1969 when the question was first asked.

Last year two US states - Colorado and Washington - voted to legalise the drug for recreational use, even though it's still banned by the federal government.

In California, medical marijuana has been legal for years. One side of the campaign to widen its availability, broaden its medical use and ultimately legalise it, is being led from an unlikely section of society.

The Beverly Hills Cannabis Club call themselves a group of "high-society" women who use the drug for medical reasons and who are giving the legalise-cannabis campaign a different face.

Alastair Leithead spoke to Cheryl Shuman from the club and attended a meeting to hear some controversial, but increasingly vocal views on the cannabis debate.

This story was brought to you by BBC News.

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