Cannabinoids: Safe Or Unsafe?

[newdimensions]

Thought this might be of interest. By no means shows JWHs are safe, but interesting to see them being used to some positive effect.

(c) Copyright 2010 Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week via NewsRx.com

2010 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Fresh data on terpenes are presented in the report 'Cannabinoids reduce ErbB2-driven breast cancer progression through Akt inhibition.' "ErbB2-positive breast cancer is characterized by highly aggressive phenotypes and reduced responsiveness to standard therapies. Although specific ErbB2-targeted therapies have been designed, only a small percentage of patients respond to these treatments and most of them eventually relapse," researchers in Madrid, Spain report.

"The existence of this population of particularly aggressive and non-responding or relapsing patients urges the search for novel therapies. The purpose of this study was to determine whether cannabinoids might constitute a new therapeutic tool for the treatment of ErbB2-positive breast tumors. We analyzed their antitumor potential in a well established and clinically relevant model of ErbB2-driven metastatic breast cancer: the MMTV-neu mouse. We also analyzed the expression of cannabinoid targets in a series of 87 human breast tumors. Our results show that both Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the most abundant and potent cannabinoid in marijuana, and JWH-133, a non-psychotropic CB2 receptor-selective agonist, reduce tumor growth, tumor number, and the amount/severity of lung metastases in MMTV-neu mice. Histological analyses of the tumors revealed that cannabinoids inhibit cancer cell proliferation, induce cancer cell apoptosis, and impair tumor angiogenesis. Cannabinoid antitumoral action relies, at least partially, on the inhibition of the pro-tumorigenic Akt pathway. We also found that 91% of ErbB2-positive tumors express the non-psychotropic cannabinoid receptor CB2," wrote M.M. Caffarel and colleagues, Complutense University.

The researchers concluded: "Taken together, these results provide a strong preclinical evidence for the use of cannabinoid-based therapies for the management of ErbB2-positive breast cancer."

Caffarel and colleagues published their study in Molecular Cancer (Cannabinoids reduce ErbB2-driven breast cancer progression through Akt inhibition. Molecular Cancer, 2010;9():196).

That's the thing about cannabinoids. They protect cells in many ways, and promote programmed cell death (this is a good thing - it's sort of a self-destruct mechanism that prevents cancerous cells from spreading.) But they're usually absorbed via smoke, which can cause all sorts of cancerous problems, especially depending on the particular molecule being combusted. I'm sure plenty of useful pharmaceuticals would be dangerous if smoked, as well. So it's always important to consider the route of ingestion when considering safety and health matters.

 

[Roger&Me]

But then again, we're unsure of what exactly is in K2..

Excellent point.

Branded cannabinoid blends should never be considered safe, precisely because its impossible to know their contents.

I highly recommend not smoking any blends, if only because the companies that make them are blatantly unscrupulous and don't feel the need to inform their customers of what they are actually ingesting. Very unethical business practices, IMO.

 

[ddhats]

I'm under no illusion these are safe. Smoking anything is obviously bad for you but unknown chemicals such as these is clearly not great.
I've just been smoking them recently out of sheer laziness. Plan to give them up next year along with most other stuff and get properly fit.
Then in the longer term grow my own real weed. The EU blends that are round at the minute (some of which do have tremendous effects it has to be said) hopefully will just act as a stopgap for me.

 

[Mholtb]

Very unethical business practices, IMO.

100% agree to that statement. They should definitely tell people what they are using, because if people use to much it could be potentially harmful since we do not know much about the chemicals negative effects.