What If Marijuana Could Stop Cancer Or Elderberries the Flu Or Red Oak Bark The Runs?

I’ve written about this over and over and over and over again.

Marijuana has anti-cancer properties.

Yes, the vile weed that the Bogey Men keep telling you is more harmful that a pack of cigarettes, can actually kill cancer cells.

Marijuana Has Anti-Cancer Properties

Saturday, July 25, 2009 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) The active ingredient in marijuana appears to target cancerous brain cells for destruction while leaving healthy cells alone, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Complutense University in Madrid, and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Researchers first conducted an experiment in mice that had been engineered to carry three different grafts of human brain cancer. They injected the mice daily with the molecule tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) near the site of the tumors once each day. The chemical appeared to stimulate the cancerous cells to engage in a process known as autophagy, in which cells initiate their own breakdown.

“These results may help to design new cancer therapies based on the use of medicines containing the active principle of marijuana and/or in the activation of autophagy,” researcher Guillermo Velasco said.

THC belongs to a class of chemicals known as cannabinoids, named after the cannabis (marijuana) plant in which they occur. It is the chemical responsible for the psychoactive effects of marijuana consumption.

In a followup experiment, the researchers extracted and analyzed brain tissue from two patients with an aggressive form of brain cancer known as “recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.” The patients were treated with THC for either 26 or 30 days, then the researchers extracted and analyzed another sample.

After examining the brain tissue under an electron microscope, the researchers discovered that THC treatment resulted in death of cancerous cells but had no effect on healthy ones. The researchers were also able to discover the signaling pathway by which THC acts.

The research opens up the possibility that cannabinoid research could yield “a new family of potential antitumoral agents,” the researchers wrote.

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and aggressive form of primary brain tumor. Without treatment, the average patient lives only three months after being diagnosed with the cancer. Treatment extends the average life expectancy after diagnosis by less than a year.

Sources for this story include: rawstory.com; health.usnews.com.

h/t DeProgram

I was sent to the ER early this week with a 188/111 BP and trouble seeing and a couple of other issues (I am normally strong as an ox and have a slightly elevated BP that is easily controlled with meds). They still don’t know what caused the spike, but changed my meds and I am doing fine for the past several days.

The interesting part is that when I was being attended to by the doctor, a discussion of natural healing/medicines came up. We discussed elderberry extracts that he claims can clear blocked arteries, improve sinus issues from allergies, and he claims has kept him and his family from getting a common cold or flu for many years. I dunno, but he seemed healthy as an elderly black man who he claims had various issues hereditary in his family.

As an example, he said that his slightly younger brother (this man was 65, maybe), who had never been part of his own immediate family’s regimen, had a year before, been found to have clogged arteries and heart issues. His brother started the elderberry “tonic” (he called it) and within a year, there was no blockage and he is in better health than ever before, including all his sinus problems went away (had been using Zyrtec, like myself, for many years).

He also made mention that many of the people in 1918 who survived the flu that ravaged the world were country folk who knew the Elderberry health secret and that was their salvation. This is of intense interest to me, for I am not taking any Swine flu shots (I have never taken a flu shot in my life). Also note that Elderberries are extremely plentiful this year (they are the little bushes on the side of the road with white blossoms). The fruit is just beginning to ripen, so I will be out and about gathering the berries soon for my own personal experiment.

He and his family actually grow them in their own yard now (and the plants are easily transplantable, just need a good topsoil). He said they will make the extract (tonic) in large quantities every year and store it in the freezer, getting it out as the supply is used. BTW, ONLY the berries and the flowers are used and ALWAYS cook the berries, for eating them raw can cause problems. (If you are a country boy, it is highly likely you have had elderberry jelly and if lucky like me (my mother is a plant freak who picks wild mushrooms and the like for her cooking… she knows the ones to eat and the ones not to eat), may have tried some Elderberry wine (which she made for many years back in the 70′s). She is since religious and won’t touch alcohol.

I also found a cool snippett from Wiki that shows promise:

In a placebo-controlled, double-blind study, Elderberry was shown to be effective for treating Influenza B. People using the Elderberry extract recovered much faster than those only on a placebo. This is partially due to the fact that Elderberry inhibits neuraminidase, the enzyme used by the virus to spread infection to host cells.^[3]

A small study published five years ago showed that 93% of flu patients given extract were completely symptom-free within two days; those taking a placebo recovered in about six days. This current study shows that, indeed, it works for type A flu, reports lead researcher Erling Thom, with the University of Oslo in Norway.^[4]

Thom’s findings were presented at the 15th Annual Conference on Antiviral Research.

The study involved 60 patients who had been suffering with flu symptoms for 48 hours or less; 90% were infected with the A strain of the virus, 10% were infected with type B. Half the group took 15 milliliters of extract or and the other group took a placebo four times a day for five days.

Patients in the extract group had “pronounced improvements” in flu symptoms after three days: Nearly 90% of patients had complete cure within two to three days. Also, the extract group had no drowsiness, the downside of many flu treatments. The placebo group didn’t recover until at least day six; they also took more painkillers and nasal sprays.

It’s likely that antioxidants called flavonoids—which are contained in the extract—stimulate the immune system, writes Thom. Also, other compounds in elderberry, called anthocyanins, have an anti-inflammatory effect; this could explain the effect on aches, pains, and fever.

Elderberry extract could be an “efficient and safe treatment” for flu symptoms in otherwise healthy people and for those with compromised immune systems, such as the elderly, Thom adds.

Russell Greenfield, MD, a leading practitioner of integrative medicine and medical director of Carolinas Integrative Health, advocates treating flu with black elderberry, he says in a news release. “It can be given to children and adults, and with no known side effects or negative interactions,” he says.

“But don’t expect grandma’s elderberry jam” to ease flu symptoms like body aches, cough, and fever, he warns. “Extract is the only black elderberry preparation shown effective in clinical studies.”

Anyway, back to the Doc: Not caring about the risk of bringing it up, I asked him what he thought about medicinal marijuana. His first response was, “They need to make it legal so we can prescribe it.”

I asked for what treatments and he countered, “Well, it would help your situation, but it has many other health factors related, as long as you don’t smoke it.” He insisted that any smoke is harmful. I asked about ingestion or vaporization and he said that was safe and should be the transmission means.

Now what was weird is that my wife and father-in-law were in the room during this discussion (and I guarantee you my father-in-law had never heard any of this before). So, I asked him about marijuana and Bi-Polar and he said that he had studied that very subject and said that it can help many people, but not enough study had been done. BuelahLady told him that she had tried it and knew that it worked better than any medicine she had ever taken.

“Then get you some. Its not all that expensive. And its everywhere.”

We told him our fear of breaking the law and the undue psychological strain it causes (making her paranoid), just thinking about the illegality of it.

“Yeah, but it is everywhere. Ask some young person.”

Then he added, “They need to go ahead and legalize it because it could do so much good and the paranoia would disappear if there weren’t the fear attached to it.”

Amen?

PS: My father-in-law grew up on the farm and told me that they had a good calf once that got sick and had explosive diarrhea and he thought it may die (he was a kid). His dad went out in the woods and cut off some bark from a red oak and had Nanny cook it down in water on the stove. They took the extract and added it to some milk in a bottle and gave it to the calf. It cured it in a day and that calf lived long and gave milk for many years.

So, when I hear stories like this compared to stories like those of flu shots killing people, methinks maybe I need to research some of the Olde Tyme solutions that Big Pharma/Big Meds will not want me to know so I can get stuck on their poisons. In research, I found this website and it lists many of the healing properties of this tree:

The benefits of using an oak were known to the Ancients. In folk medicine different part of the tree were used for treatments, now mainly the bark is used.

- treating wounds and intestinal problems (used by Native American cultures for hundreds of years);

- protecting from bacterial and viral infections (historically used oak bark for making bath additives and gargles);

- treating diarrhea, chronic mucous discharges, passive hemorrhages;

- an excellent gargle for relaxed uvula and sore throat;

- nice stimulating astringent lotion for ulcerswith spongy granulations;

- an astringent injection for leucorrhoea and hemorrhoids;

- a proven remedy for gangrenous or mortified conditions;

- and excellent remedy for debilitated children, especially when the result of fevers (as a bath or decoction, given internally);

- treating several cutaneous diseases;

- highly recommended in the treatment of scrofula (drinking coffee made from roasted acorns).