5 Benefits for Marijuana over Opiates to Treat Pain

  More than 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain and approximately 4% suffer from neuropathic pain worldwide.(Source) Opiates are the most common prescribed medication for pain in the United States. Research has shown that the success rate of opiates for treating pain is 30-40% with horrible side effects.(Source) In 2007 prescription pain killers contributed to 42% of all drug deaths in America.(Source) Research has shown that Cannabis is a favorable alternative to opiate pain medication.

Benefit #1 Cannabis Treats your Emotional Response to Pain

  In 2010 Oxford University conducted a study on how pain is perceived. In the study volunteers were told if electric charges would be dangerous or not before they received them. The perception of danger made the charges more painful. The brain felt pain before the charge was administered.(Source)

Cannabis relaxes the emotional response by affecting the brain receptors that deal with emotion.

Benefit #2 Cannabis Reduces Cancer Growth

  Many studies have shown that marijuana lowers cancer cell growth.(Source) In 2012 the University of Chicago put out a report to showing that opiates may increase cancer growth. Jonathan Moss, MD, PhD, professor of anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Chicago Medicine said "Epidemiologic findings suggest that the type of anesthesia we do for cancer surgery influences recurrence rate, and laboratory studies demonstrate that opioids influence tumor progression and metastasis,". In another study, cancer cells in the lungs show 5-10 times as many opiod receptors than non-cancer cells.(Source)

Benefit #3 Cannabis is Less Addictive than Opiates

  A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that 9% of cannabis users have an addiction problem.(Source) To put this in perspective, 8% of Americans are addicted to Facebook, checking their account 11 or more times a day.(Source) Heroin is an opiate that has a 23% abuse rate.(Source) In 2010 two million people reported using prescription painkillers for non-medical reasons in a one year period (5,500 a day).(Source)

Benefit #4 Cannabis Reduces Side Effects that Opiates Have

  Opiates are Central Nervous System (CNS) Depressants. If the CNS is overly-depressed too far this can result in difficulty with the heart beating or the ability to breathe.(Source) Other side effects include hormonal imbalance, constipation, nausea, and drowsiness.(Source) Studies have found that using cannabis along with opiates reduces side effects and decreases addiction.(Source)

Benefit #5 Cannabis Overdose Deaths = 0

  There have been no reported overdose deaths for marijuana. (Source) In 2010 the number of opiate overdose deaths were 16,651. Six percent of people who use prescribed opiates use it as a gateway drug for heroin use. (Source) In 2012 the opioid heroin use resulted in 5,925 deaths as a result of overdose.

Source:

http://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/8052240.pdf

http://cannabisnowmagazine.com/cannabis/medical/marijuana-works-better-than-opiates-to-control-pain-heres-how

http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/pdf/poison-issue-brief.pdf

http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Relieving-Pain-in-America-A-Blueprint-for-Transforming-Prevention-Care-Education-Research.aspx

http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2012/20120321-opioid.html

http://justiniskandar.empowernetwork.com/blog/internet-and-facebook-addiction

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/heroin

http://archive.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k11Results/NSDUHresults2011.htm

http://cannabisnowmagazine.com/cannabis/medical/marijuana-works-better-than-opiates-to-control-pain-heres-how

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22880540

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/causes_of_death#sthash.q4PDb6Tl.dpbs

Different Cancers that Have Been Shown to be Reduced with Cannabis

Tumors in the brain have shown promising results to reduce or be destroyed through many research studies using marijuana. The inhibiting of cancer cells to proliferate do not stop with tumors in the brain. Studies have shows that there are promising results for many other cancer cells. Here is a list and studies on how cannabis-based medicine.

• Biliary Tract Cancer (cholangiocarcinoma)(Source)
• Breast Carcinoma – By inhibiting anandamide(Source)
• Cervical Carcinoma – By increase of inhibiting tissue of Matrix Metalloproteinases-1 (MMP-1)
(Source)
• Colorectal Carcinoma - Cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) found in most colorectal cancer cells were reduced by the increase in anandamide, which increases with cannabis use.(Source)
• Leukemia Cells – THC induces Leukemia cell death. (Source)
• Lymphoma – used with other drugs to induce lymphoma cell death (Source)
• Lung Carcinoma – THC induced Lung Cancer cell death. (Source)
• Neuroblastoma – Type 1 Vanilloid Receptor (Source)
• Oral Cancer – By inhibiting O(2) in Oral Cancer cells to cause death to cells (Source)
• Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma – By increasing ceramides and affecting the CB2 receptors (Source)
• Prostate Carcinoma – By increasing ceramides and effects on anandamide (Source)
• Skin Carcinoma – By activating the CB1 and CB2 receptors (Source)
• Thyroid Epithelioma – CB1 Receptors (Source)

• Uterus Carcinoma - Cell Growth Inhibition (Source)

Cannabis Reduces Brain Tumors

Cannabinoids found in marijuana have shown to inhibit tumor cell growth. This is achieved in how they effect signaling pathways in the brain. Treatment with cannabis has been found to be cheaper to produce and have less side effects and toxicity to other conventional chemo therapies and drugs, encouraging further research to make it a mainstream medicine.(Source)

In 1998 it was first recorded that delta-9-THC promoted cell death in glioma (brain tumor) cells in cultures.(Source) In 2000 a study was done with THC as well as WIN 55,212-2 which is a chemical that shows effects similar to cannabinoids, with a completley different chemical structure. Both increased ceramides which inhibited cancer cell growth.(Source) Ceramides are fatty acids that tumor cells seem to invite in. Ceramides communicate with the lysosomes in the cells to tell them to burst, killing the cancer cell. Ceramides are also important in hair and skin acting as a protective shield against the environment.(Source)

A study in 2003 found that THC in laboratory tests create cell destruction in cells by modifying the signal pathways inside the tumor, allowing it to disrupt growth or kill the tumor. (Source) With much discussion about THC benefiting tumor cell death, research also concluded that the cannabinoid CBD also showed equally promising results in tumor cell death without the psycho active properties. (Source)

In 2004 it was found that cannabinoids reduce tumor growth by affecting the vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF, or the function of giving blood supply to tissue when circulation is inadequate. The blocking of the pathway to blood flow of tumors showed a reduction in the tumor cells. (Source)

In 2005 a study found that THC did a better job of only inhibiting the growth of tumor cells as opposed to healthy cells more effectively than the chemical medicine WIN 55,212-2. (Source)

Professor Guzman who conducted a lot of these research studies found in 2006 that patients with reoccuring glioblastoma multiforme showed a reduction in tumors. (Source) In 2010 it was found in research that a widely used chemotherapy drug used to treat brain tumors called temozolomide (TMZ) increased effectiveness when administered with THC. (Source) A report was published in 2011 in which two children using cannabis to treat cerebellar and optic pathway tumors by inhibiting the growth effectively.(Source)

In 2014 glioma, an aggressive and hard to treat cancer in the brain was treated with CBD and THC along with radiotherapy. Results found that the combination of the cannabinoids found in marijuana improved the radiotherapy by prepping the glioma cells to receive the ionizing radiation more effectively and reducing the tumor cells.(Source)

Source:

http://www.nature.com/nrc/journal/v3/n10/abs/nrc1188.html

http://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2014/11/12/1535-7163.MCT-14-0402.abstract

http://norml.org/library/item/gliomascancer

http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/54/5/834.short

http://www.sharecare.com/health/cancer-treatment/how-ceramides-help-fight-cancer

http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/308/3/838.full

http://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/10/1/90.abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21336992