While the conventional wisdom is that drugs are bad for you, there is a growing amount of information that marijuana isn't as bad as some might think. While the ability of pot to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients is well known, the chemical compounds in pot might provide other benefits in the fight against cancer. The National Cancer Institute had not made much of it publicly, but updates to their webpage list some studies that suggest that cannabis has been shown to be effective against some kinds of cancer.
Specifically studies in mice and rats have shown that cannabinoids, the chemicals in pot that act on neurotransmitters in the brain, may inhibit tumor growth by causing cell death, blocking cell growth, and blocking the development of blood vessels needed by tumors to grow. Other studies have shown that in mice at least, cannabinoids can reduce inflammation in the colon and possibly prevent some forms of colon cancer. Finally, the compound delta-9-THC found in pot was effective in killing cells involved in liver cancer, small cell lung cancer and breast cancer.
