Steve Kubby: How the US Government outlawed a harmless, but potent ant

[grace]

Steve Kubby: How the US Government outlawed a harmless, but potent anti-cancer drug

by Steve Kubby

December 30th, 2008

Libertarian Party

http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/...ti-cancer-drug/

 

Yesterday, I received word about a very special lady, who is also my cousin, and who is fighting for her life. Her name is Lisa and she is losing her battle with breast cancer. What saddens me most is that there is an epidemic of breast cancer right now — even though we already possess an effective, nontoxic, and powerful anti-cancer drug that could save her and millions of other women.

 

Right now, we have the technology and peer-reviewed science to save millions of lives with a harmless extract from the cannabis plant called Cannabidiol, also known as CBD. Cannabidiol is totally safe and non-psychoactive. Lives could be saved now, using CBD in cannabinoid lozenges, produced by a company I founded — except for the fact that CBD has been determined by Congress to be a Schedule 1 Drug.

 

CBD alone is not intoxicating, but it appears to relieve convulsion, inflammation, anxiety, and nausea, and to inhibit cancer cell growth. Recent studies have shown cannabidiol to be as effective as atypical antipsychotics in treating schizophrenia. In November 2007, it was reported that CBD reduces growth of aggressive human breast cancer cells in vitro and reduces their invasiveness. It thus represents the first non-toxic exogenous agent that can lead to down-regulation of tumor aggressiveness. It is also a neuroprotective antioxidant that provides powerful protection from paralysis in spinal injuries.

 

CBD works by blocking the activity of a gene called Id-1 which is believed to be responsible for the aggressive spread of cancer cells away from the original tumour site - a process called metastasis. Past work has shown CBD can block aggressive human brain cancers. The latest work found CBD appeared to have a similar effect on breast cancer cells in the lab.

 

CBD is totally safe and completely non-psychoactive. The US government not only knows about CBD, it even hold a patent on the use of cannabinoid medicines. So why does our own government continue to make CBD a Schedule 1 Drug and thereby sentence my cousin Lisa to death?

 

It’s a tragic situation and, in light of the emerging new science supporting CBD, it is criminal for the US government to continue its destructive and misinformed war on the medical use of cannabis.