Medical Marijuana

It's high time we finally started looking at the potential of marijuana as medicine. Preliminary results in mice and humans show that the plant's main psychoactive ingredient, delta-9-THC, may shrink brain tumors by blocking the formation of the blood vessels that feed them.

They found the marijuana extract inhibited the expression of several genes related to the production of a chemical called vascular endothelial growth factor. VEGF is critical for angiogenesis, which allows tumours to grow a network of blood vessels to supply their growth. The cannabinoid significantly lowered the activity of VEGF in the mice and two human brain cancer patients, the study showed. The drug did this by increasing the activity of a fat molecule called ceramide, suggests the study, as adding a ceramide inhibitor stifled the ability of the cannabinoid to block VEGF.

"We saw that the tumours [in mice] were smaller and a bit pallid," adds Blázquez. The paleness of the cancer reflected its lack of blood supply as a result of the treatment. In the human patients, she says: "It seems that it works, but it's very early."