The days of seeing Marijuana as primarily a recreational drug are coming to a close. The new age of seeing it as one of the best medicines on Earth are here. I recently researched the documentary “Medicinal Cannabis” and the following is just the tip of the iceberg of what I discovered.
Dozens of studies in the last few years have shown that chemicals in cannabis in the lab and in animals have a significant effect on fighting almost all major cancers including brain, breast, prostate, lung, thyroid, colon, skin, pituitary, melanoma and leukemia. They do this by promoting the death of cancer cells who have forgotten how to die as well as reducing their crucial blood supply while leaving healthy cells untouched.
Why would cannabis have any effect on cancer? The answer can be explained in one word: Endocannabinoids. We are already born with a form of cannabis in our bodies called the Endocannabinoid System (ECS). The ECS influences multiple physiological processes. This system modulates energy intake as well as nutrient transport, metabolism, and storage. A completely natural collection of compounds, Endocannabinoids are our bodies own form of marijuana and are involved in most of our cells and structures. They control a variety of functions in the nervous system, heart, reproductive and immune systems. Endocannabinoid messengers help the cells communicate. Typically they protect our good cells while killing the bad ones, like cancer cells.
In all animals, the nervous system is made up of the same components: large numbers of nerve cells carrying electrical signals. Wherever the cells meet, these send signals to a receptor in the next cell by a chemical messenger called a neurotransmitter. All animals, from rodents, to fish, to elephants, to humans, have inherited this basic structure. Hundreds of millions of years ago, primitive invertebrates evolved an innovation to this system. The nervous system acquired a new chemical and it is this chemical that is related in structure to the chemical that’s found in cannabis. It was inevitable that cannabis would meet its perfect partner: us.
Despite controversy, there are doctors in the US and abroad who have been advancing the research on the medical use of cannabis with highly impressive and sometimes revolutionary discoveries. More facts and figures to come.
To get help in obtaining your medicinal marijuana card, call Southern Oregon Alternative Medicine at Inner Synergy in Ashland.
