Before being diagnosed with stage 4, metastatic melanoma in 2019, I had no previous experience with marijuana. Despite going to high school and college in the late sixties, when there was an obvious shift in social substance use from mostly alcohol to pot, I never even experimented with it. At the time, I was a serious competitive athlete and anything to do with smoking was absolutely taboo. Add in the effects of a vilified, category-one drug and it put smoking weed way out of my comfort zone.
However, when faced with the reality of a terminal cancer diagnosis, I embraced any and all-natural treatments that had any clinical evidence of restoring health. During my voracious consumption of cancer research, I kept running into anecdotal stories about the miraculous, late-stage cancer healings that were experienced, using only medical cannabis. It prompted me to dig deeper into how this God-given plant could seemingly be so effective in reversing cases on which our medical system had basically given up. I learned that the marijuana plant has over 200 active chemicals that work in concert to disrupt the normal pathways of cancer development. In fact, it was less than two decades ago that the whole endocannabinoid system was discovered to exist in all human beings. This biological system regulates myriad other systems in the body and its primary function is to create homeostasis (balance) in our bodies. If one of our critical biological systems begins to deviate from the norm, the endocannabinoid system releases its own, naturally produced cannabinoids to restore that system to homeostasis.
Before being diagnosed with stage 4, metastatic melanoma in 2019, I had no previous experience with marijuana. Despite going to high school and college in the late sixties, when there was an obvious shift in social substance use from mostly alcohol to pot, I never even experimented with it. At the time, I was a serious competitive athlete and anything to do with smoking was absolutely taboo. Add in the effects of a vilified, category-one drug and it put smoking weed way out of my comfort zone.
Based on my research, I made the decision to incorporate medical cannabis into my arsenal against cancer. It was only one of the many lifestyle changes I made in October of 2019, but less than a month later, my tumors began to shrink. By January, my PET scan was basically clear. I sincerely believe that the “whole-plant” tincture I was taking contributed significantly to my recovery and taking a few drops sublingually twice a day got around my intense aversion to smoking.
I feel truly blessed to have made it through my personal ordeal with cancer and offer a few links below for those of you who would like to dig deeper:
Local delivery of cannabinoid-loaded microparticles inhibits tumor (greenmedinfo.com)– “Moreover, treatment with cannabinoid-loaded microparticles enhanced apoptosis and decreased cell proliferation and angiogenesis in these tumors”
Cancer Initiation, Progression and Resistance: Are Phytocannabinoids from Cannabis sativa L. Promising Compounds? – PubMed (nih.gov) – “Recently, in vitro and in vivo evidence supports the effectiveness of phytocannabinoids against various cancer types”
Phytochemistry of Cannabis sativa L – PubMed (nih.gov) – “The recent discoveries of the medicinal properties of cannabis and the cannabinoids in addition to their potential applications in the treatment of a number of serious illnesses, such as ……..cancer.”
Cannabis, the Endocannabinoid System and Immunity-the Journey from the Bedside to the Bench and Back – PubMed (nih.gov) – “Cannabinoids affect the nervous system and play significant roles in the regulation of the immune system.”
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