The federal government is funding studies examining how cannabis helps fight cancer

The Fed is funding studies on cannabis and cancer

The question is: will the studies be biased against cannabis?

There are easily a few dozen studies detailing how the various compounds in cannabis can help fight cancer in many different ways.

But for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a federal agency, there just isn’t enough. They will soon be subsidizing studies so researchers can analyze the pros and cons of using cannabis for cancer.

They recently released a statement stating that 1 in 4 cancer patients admitted to using marijuana to treat cancer symptoms such as pain, nausea and anorexia; However, “research on their health effects, including potential harms and benefits, remains limited.” According to them, the main reason for calling for further studies is to “encourage research to understand the mechanisms by which cannabis and cannabinoids affect cancer biology, affect cancer defenses, cancer treatment and resistance, and cancer symptom management,” reports MarijuanaMoment.

In addition, they include a summary of the current research available, as well as 8 areas of interest to be explored further. According to the NIH, “Studies of other cancers have shown no or conflicting association with cannabis use, but this data is limited.”

“Cancer cell line experiments show that THC and CBD can mediate many antitumor effects, including induction of apoptosis and inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis,” they add. “These anti-tumor activities led to early clinical testing of THC and CBD in glioblastoma and prostate cancer.”

Areas of focus they would like to gain insight into include the effects of exogenous cannabinoids on carcinogenesis, learning more about the endogenous cannabinoid pathways and their impact on carcinogenesis, the impact of cannabinoids on cancer treatment, how cannabinoids work in fighting cancer, how Cannabinoids reduce the symptoms of cancer, like cannabis works with other factors such as microbiome, diet, alcohol and tobacco in cancer.

Federally approved studies would be taken more seriously

While there is a large and growing body of research into cannabis for cancer, very little of it has been approved by the federal agency, and the federal government believes other studies should be viewed with caution.

The situation of scientific research into cannabis is by no means simple. Researchers face numerous hurdles to overcome. So if we want to better understand the mechanisms behind the benefits of cannabis for cancer patients, many other questions need to be asked. Much of the research currently focuses on apoptosis, or cell death, as cannabinoids have been shown to cause cancer cells to kill themselves. Other studies show that they block the growth of cancer cells through inhibitors, cut inflammation in their pathways in half, inhibit the development of blood vessels that tumors rely on to grow and spread, stop cytokine production and cancer cells’ ability to spread to eliminate.

With cannabis now containing more than 100 cannabinoids in the plant, doctors cannot rely on a one-size-fits-all solution for cancer patients. There is still so much we need to know about the phenotypes and genetics of the cannabis plant so that we can find effective and safe dosages of cannabinoids and their beneficial flavonoids and terpenes to fight certain types of cancer.

Decades of Prohibition have made it challenging for oncologists to glean scientific evidence from clinical trials—of which much more is needed.

For these reasons and more, it’s good news that the NIH is funding more studies. “Studies that integrate expertise from multiple disciplines, incorporate state-of-the-art human-relevant models (e.g., organoid or patient-derived xenograft models), and utilize advanced technologies and methods are strongly encouraged,” the NIH said. They also recognized the hurdles researchers must overcome; In an article last year, they posited that administrative burdens are nothing more than a barrier to scientific investigation for successful studies into the health benefits of cannabis.

“Conflicting federal and state cannabis regulations impede research in a variety of ways, including the inability of researchers to access products that are legal in their state, a lack of standardization and quality control of cannabis and cannabis-derived products within and between states, and not nationally oversight of that standardization and quality control or the industry,” they wrote.

NIDA is also pushing for research into cannabis

Meanwhile, the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the main federal drug agency, resumed its push into more federally funded studies into marijuana earlier this year as more states adopt cannabis guidelines. However, they are more interested in studies examining how various government policies across the country are affecting public health.

In February of this year, they released a statement calling for “promoting grant applications on the public health impact of changes in cannabis laws and policies in the United States and around the world,” they wrote.

“Policy regarding cannabis products (including whole plant and cannabis constituent cannabis) in the United States (and worldwide) is evolving and far exceeds the knowledge needed to determine the public health implications of these changes” , the statement said. “More and more states have eased restrictions on cannabis, including sales and use restrictions, by enacting medical marijuana laws or legalizing cannabis for adult recreational use, and more states have done both.”

In our view, cannabis laws and studies simply don’t keep up with the times. Even if the federal government feels there is a lack of studies or that cannabis may have side effects that we need to know more about, it will not stop states from legalizing cannabis as needed, nor will it stop people from using it to use because it is legal in their state.

It’s up to the federal government to move with the times and finally reschedule cannabis – which should have happened yesterday.

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