Talking Tumors in Leiden

[Stokes]

Netherlands: Scientific Conference Hears Of Tumor Reducing


SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE HEARS OF TUMOR REDUCING EFFECT FROM CANNABINOIDS

A prestigious gathering of scientists and researchers met in September in Leiden, The Netherlands, where the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine biennial conference heard first-hand reports of tumor reducing effects and other benefits of marijuana and cannabinoids.

Cannabinoids are compounds found in the cannabis plant. Endocannabinoids are naturally occuring compounds in the human body that are similar in structure and effect to those in cannabis.

Much of the funding for the research projects was funded by government agencies such as NIDA and were designed to look for harmful effects rather than health benefits, which skewed the information somewhat. Nonetheless, significant benefits and relatively few harms were revealed. In fact, the marijuana smokers in general appeared pretty normal when compared to the rest of society, based on the reports that were given.

Not all research presented was government approved. Mark Gibson reported on his work with Canna-Biz Chocolate, which he and his wife produce and provide to a number of multiple sclerosis sufferers in the UK. They monitor their patients and saw significant alleviation of symptoms. Shortly thereafter, police came in and arrested them, shut the service down, took away their medicine and charged the couple with trafficking. Mark faces prison for his work. A court trial is planned for next year.

Jorg Fachner compared topographic EEG brain mapping changes of cannabis induced and sound-trance induced altered state of consciousness.

Tumors reduced by cannabinoid

Research on the tumor reducing effects of cannabinoids were one of the most exciting pieces of new information brought forth. The research, backed up with photos and measurements, showed that rats with large, induced tumors clearly benefited from application of cannabis derivatives, and not merely as an adjunct to chemotherapy. Researchers from Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, including Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, credited as the discoverer of the THC molecule, led an international team investigating the use of cannabinoids to treat cancer. Dubbed HU-331, cannabidiol-hydroxyquinone was produced from cannabidiol and used to treat tumors in vitro and in vivo, meaning both in petri dishes and also on living mice.

"HU-331 shows very high effectivity against human cancer cell lines in-vitro and also against in-vivo tumor grafts in nude mice. At 35 days after cancer cell injection, the tumors in the treated group were half the size of the tumors in the controls," they reported. HU-331 inhibited T-cell lymphoma cell growth more than known anticancer drugs, including doxorubicin, mitoxantrone and etoposide. HU-331 proved much less toxic than doxorubicin, mitoxantrone and etoposide.

Promising review of Sativex

Researchers from GW Pharmaceuticals reported on the company's work with natural, broad spectrum inhaled cannabis extract. The medication, already available in Canada, utilizes patented technology to ingest and regulate the dose without smoking by using a device similar to the asthma inhaler.

Their research concluded that the plant-based medicinal extract Sativex produced significant improvements in a subjective measure of spasticity which were maintained on long-term treatment with no evidence of tolerance.

California research

Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather presented a paper developed with fellow California physicians Tod Mikuriya and David Bearman on the "Clinical improvement and reduction of immunosuppressive drug therapy in cannabis treated patients with Crohn's disease." They reported that "The Crohn's patients encountered by these physicians have been treated with a variety of conventional pharmacological therapies including steroids, other immunomodulators and a number of biologic therapies, including anti tumor necrosis factor." Smoked cannabis was found to be more effective in relieving symptoms than were the pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Donald Abrams reported favorably on smoked cannabis therapy for hiv-related painful peripheral neuropathy: results of a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Dale Gieringer, PhD, gave an update on the growth of cannabis medicine in the US: practice and usage in a semi-legal regime.

Field trip to official gardens

Marco van de Velde discussed "Two years of experience with legal production and distribution of medicinal cannabis in the Netherlands," and participants had an opportunity to take a field trip to the official, government licensed cannabis nursery of Bedrocan.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n000/a431.html
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Where love is, there God is also.

-Mahatma Gandhi

[Stokes]

https://oaksterdamnews.com/content/view/63/52/

Groetjes van Amsterdam! Greetings from Amsterdam!
Written by Tristin Coffman

Gardens galore — Soma’s female plants were almost ripe when we rolled into Amsterdam after the Leiden conference. The golden color is from the use of warm spectrum lamps that simulate autumn sunlight. Upper right: This cola isn’t fully mature, but already the resin is glistening Right: At the Sensi Museum Coffeeshop on Damstrat by O. Achterburgwal you can’t buy cannabis but you can drink a cappuccino and have a smoke in its cannabis friendly accommodations. Plants started from seed and by clones grow in the enticing entryway. Below, from left: Caren Woodson, Mikki Norris and Chris Conrad spoke at the Cannabis College.; ...

continued here ... https://oaksterdamnews.com/content/view/63/52/







The Cannabis College, located in the historic red light district of the city, hosted a talk by Mikki Norris of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign, Chris Conrad of Safe Access Now and Caren Woodson of Americans for Safe Access. The Dutch were interested to hear about developments in the US. Their own policy, while not as oppressive as in America remains arbitrary in its application.

In the basement of the College is a five plant cannabis garden which can be seen for the price of a few dollars. It didn’t take long to find numerous other small patches of cannabis cropping up in people’s patios, yards and even indoors, despite an official policy that disallows the use of lamps to grow cannabis.

More plants were growing around the doorway to the nearby Hash, Marihuana and Hemp Museum. As tourists strolled the canals, the friendly fragrance of cannabis rose to meet them.
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Where love is, there God is also.

-Mahatma Gandhi