Cannabis Reduces Cancerous Tumours: Has the U.S. Government Been Covering It Up since 1974?

Governments' interest in the medicinal benefits of cannabis is practically nil. Over the course of history several have sought to quash investigations yielding proof of the benefits of cannabinoids in restraining or curing serious diseases like cancer. Thus, it was believed, until now, that the American government had managed to thwart a similar initiative almost 40 years ago.

The story went like this: in 1974 Americans researchers discovered that THC helped to reduce certain types of tumours - in this case, at least in mice. This was a study carried out at the Medical College of Virginia, with financing from the National Institute of Health. Apparently the U.S. government intended for the team to demonstrate the potentially negative consequences of cannabinoids, but just the opposite happened. So, according to journalist Raymond Cushing -who cited the Jack Herer book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" - the White House allegedly put an end to the study and destroyed the results.

The story continued with a Spanish study, led by the researcher Manuel Guzmán at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, which was published in 2000. According to the journalist it was the first research study - after that in 1974 - to analyse the capacity of cannabinoids to stop the growth of certain tumours. According to Cushing, the Spaniard had found it impossible to get access to the American study. He stated that Guzmán was aware of its existence, and had tried to get his hands on it, but never managed to.

Cushing's article stated that, after censoring the investigation, the American government had diverted these types of studies to pharmaceutical groups (to keep an eye on them). In addition, and as a criticism of the Spanish authorities, Cushing stated that Guzmán's team had requested financing to conduct tests with cannabinoids on humans, but had been denied.

The true story

Quite a few years after both studies were published, at Dinafem we wanted to know more about this story - already legendary - to verify how much there was to it. Thus, we spoke with Spanish researcher Manuel Guzmán who, to our surprise, almost completely refuted Raymond Cushing's account.

Manuel Guzmán, who has been studying the application of cannabinoids to treat tumours since 1996, told Dinafem that the American government financed the original research, but he has seen no evidence that it did so with any ulterior motives. What he is certain about is that the study was not censored, and its results were not destroyed either. Guzmán had access to the work, which was published in the journal of the National Cancer Institute in May of 1975, and entitled “Antineoplastic activity of cannabinoids.”

It is true, or at least its author claims, that the research by Guzmán and his team, conducted in 2000, was the first on this subject since the American study. It discussed the anti-tumour effects of cannabis laboratory animals, specifically in mice and rats.

What is false is that the Spaniard did not have access to the American study. In fact he did have it, and even compared his results with those of the American study in order to show where progress had been made. He was able to verify that the American study employed a methodology and parameters that were older and less sophisticated than his. “We knew about the existence of this work, we saw it, and what we did in 2000 was to try to salvage that knowledge and contribute advances to the research,” he says.

Guzmán's work, therefore, is more advanced, but it is partially based on that of his predecessors.

What is more, contradicting Cushing's claims, Guzmán states that, although at the outset it was difficult to obtain financing to run tests on humans - as regularly happens with any other investigation - they actually obtained it reasonably soon, and experimented on nine patients who were suffering from advanced brain cancer.

According to the scientist, there is barely any aversion to research related to cannabinoids in Spain, nor are there ideological restrictions. There is, however, opposition in the clinical sphere, amongst doctors who still think that cannabis will negatively affect patients, but he knows that many other professionals see marijuana “as a potential medicine that can be used in a range of therapies."

In fact, Guzmán quantifies the financing for this type of research in Spain at several million euros a year, “a low figure, but not any lower than that earmarked for other kinds of research.”

Then, nothing of which Cushing wrote was true? Very little, actually. It remains to be confirmed whether the U.S. government diverted the research to pharmaceutical companies after the first investigation, but it´s not easy to clarify this. Guzmán says that he has seen no proof of it, although it is true that studies on the application of cannabinoids to reduce tumours virtually disappeared after the 1975 results. And nobody seems to know why.

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With information from Cureyourowncancer.org, Jackherer.com, Jnci.oxfordjournals.org and internal sources.