It’s been well documented that tobacco smoke can cause lung cancer, and as Cancer.gov reports, breathing only a little bit of tobacco on a regular basis can increase the risk of cancer.  This is not surprising, considering that 7,000 chemicals are contained in tobacco smoke.  Of the 250 harmful chemicals contained in tobacco, at least 69 have been proven to cause cancer.  On the contrary, medicinal marijuana, which can be smoked or eaten with a prescription in certain states, has been shown to inhibit cancer cell invasion.

The U.S. Library Discovers the Truth

One of the most significant findings was by the Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology in Germany, and quoted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, where it was revealed that cannabinoids inhibited cancer cell invasion in controlled studies.  The effects were not only observed in animal testing but actually confirmed in primary tumor cells from a lung cancer patient’s trial.  Cannabinoids decreased cancer cell invasiveness.  Another THC study by the Harvard Medical School, quoted once again by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, mirrored those sentiments.

The Anti-Cigarette?

Even the mainstream ABC News website reported on the phenomenon, quoting Dr. Len Horovitz who said that THC cut tumor growth in half, while also minimizing its spread.  “It seems to go to receptor sites on cells and inhibit growth.”  The findings were so convincing they were shown at the American Association for Cancer Research.  Dr. Len went so far as to speculate that the reason that the marijuana-using Baby Boomer generation is not experiencing a predicted spike in lung cancer reports could be because of the inhibitive qualities of THC.

While cigarettes continue to be legal and vilified by the media, cannabis is slowly but surely making a comeback and persuading mainstream voices to come to the aid of science—by legalizing a natural “drug” that has been proven to have anti-cancer properties worth further investigation.