# Is this the cure for cancer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615 "2009-05-16T04:35:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/61 "2009-05-20T19:41:51Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > IF this guy has genuine preliminary data worthy of consideration, I guarantee he wouldn’t have to work that hard to find a researcher willing to look into it properly. The very fact that he’s taken the route of pitching it on his own website instead is significant. Given the stigma and illegality of marijuana, I actually think you’d have a very tough time finding researchers. [DCA sounds promising](http://www.depmed.ualberta.ca/dca/), and _they’re_ scraping for donations. Dichloroacetate isn’t even illegal. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/62 "2009-05-20T20:04:20Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Given the stigma and illegality of marijuana, I actually think you’d have a very tough time finding researchers. Hardly. A pubmed search for “[cannabinoid cancer](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=search&term=cannabinoid+cancer)” pulls up 650 results. More specifically, “[THC cancer](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=search&term=thc+cancer)” gets 234. Admittedly, from the author names it looks like the labs that are doing research in this area are all outside the US. Some of the references are more about palliative treatment (i.e. preventing nausea in chemo patients). Still, there are a few labs that seem to be aggressively pursuing cannabinoids as a curative treatment for cancer, based on their publication records. On top of that, in neuroscience the research into cannabinoid receptors is absolutely huge - 5124 results in pubmed. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/63 "2009-05-20T20:18:10Z")
Bosda, Right here (deleted), [The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies - PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15630849) and what makes you think I have no medical training, I just said I was not a doctor or a researcher. I am just trying to point out that perhaps the man is onto something. If you have some hard facts to dispute this, by all means show me your cards. As I stated before I could care less if it works or not, but I think that if I was on my way out I would probably try it. Why you feel it necessary to bring a childish attitude into this dicussion and then try to insult me is completely beyond me. Many researchers are doing great things with medical marijuana, and your attitude toward the use of it is somewhat outdated, maybe ten or twenty years ago it may have flown but I don’t think it does today. I’ll bet my last dollar that you would have a hard time tying to convince the people who tried it and have been cured that it does not work, and the bottom line is that that’s all that matters to them. And for the last time I hope…I could care less one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/64 "2009-05-20T20:52:52Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > Telemark, > I’m just saying that chemo does not always work and I have seen the sucess rate quoted as low as 2%, I’m also saying I’m not a Doctor or a researcher but I am pretty sure that chemo does not cure all cancers. I’ll be more careful with word choice in the future. Really? I’m sure my chemo oncologist would be very surprised to hear that. Certainly MY latest scans have been clean. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/65 "2009-05-20T21:04:57Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > I’ll bet my last dollar that you would have a hard time tying to convince the people who tried it and have been cured that it does not work, and the bottom line is that that’s all that matters to them. Of course it is, and that’s why anecdotal evidence is so useless. Johnny complains of a problem, he takes the miracle cure, and now the problem is gone. Therefore, the miracle cure must work! Except lots of people have problems that go away. People misinterpret the evidence. Patients get better or worse, and often neither the doctors or the patients know why. And surely you’ve heard of the word “placebo” before, right? This is why potential treatments have to be evaluated scientifically. That means that you have to treat a large number of patients with the proposed therapy, and an equivalent number of patients with a placebo. And neither the doctors of the patients know which therapy is which. Then you compare the groups. Did the patients who got the therapy do better than the patients who got the placebo? Very often, the answer is no, despite the fact that the proposed treatment appeared promising earlier. This is what’s known as scientific medicine. Any other approach is nonsense. Every treatment has to be evaluated to see if it actually does what it is supposed to do. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/66 "2009-05-20T21:07:50Z")
Well good for you, I’m glad to hear that, but what does that have to do with what I am saying. Jesus what the hell is going on here? I am not saying it does not work, or not to use it, or only use the oil, I was just pointing out that it does not work for everyone. Pubmed seems to be an ok cite for others, I was just using it as a reference. I would sincerely like to apologise for trying to be a bit openminded,as it seems to offend some of you, but tough, it’s who I am. The op was in reference to someone and something that I happen to have done alot of reading about in the past, and is somewhat local to me, and I thought I would throw in my two cents. I am in no way trying to push anything. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/67 "2009-05-20T21:15:32Z")
Lemur, I agree totally with you, and that is what seems to happening with some of the research that’s going on today. But in the meantime if someone decides to try something on their own and it seems to work where is the problem? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/68 "2009-05-20T23:53:28Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > Bosda, > Right here (deleted), [The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies - PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15630849) > > and what makes you think I have no medical training, I just said I was not a doctor or a researcher. I am just trying to point out that perhaps the man is onto something. If you have some hard facts to dispute this, by all means show me your cards. As I stated before I could care less if it works or not, but I think that if I was on my way out I would probably try it. Why you feel it necessary to bring a childish attitude into this dicussion and then try to insult me is completely beyond me. Many researchers are doing great things with medical marijuana, and your attitude toward the use of it is somewhat outdated, maybe ten or twenty years ago it may have flown but I don’t think it does today. > > I’ll bet my last dollar that you would have a hard time tying to convince the people who tried it and have been cured that it does not work, and the bottom line is that that’s all that matters to them. And for the last time I hope…I could care less one way or the other. This is the SDMB. Our Board Culture allows anybody here to ask for a cite. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/69 "2009-05-21T00:46:35Z")
Bosda, I agree, it was not what you asked for, but how you went about it. I have no desire to get into a pissing contest about this topic with anyone, just felt I could share something. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/70 "2009-05-21T16:20:43Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > OK, looked at your link. The **very first thing** on the homepage is a request for _money_! Including all the ways you can pay… sheesh. Ahh, yes, because a PayPal Donate button is really the key to anyone’s riches. [IsoHunt.com](http://IsoHunt.com), the huge torrent tracker that probably gets over a million hits a day, has one. They must know it works. Let’s see. “Donations for last day: **$64.06** ” Jackpot! It really makes principled resistance to law oh so worth the while. > [@paperbackwriter](#): > > Reading threads like this makes me dispair for science education in North America. All the anecdotes and testimonies in the world are worthless unless backed up by hard data. Well, why is that all the snark and derision _isn’t_ worthless when not backed up by hard data? And can we all take a harder look at **JFLuvy** ’s paper than chemo only helps by 2%? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/71 "2009-05-21T16:43:28Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > And can we all take a harder look at **JFLuvy** ’s paper than chemo only helps by 2%? That study focuses on subjects in randomized clinical trials. Clinical trials don’t always work, so the protocols used may not have been effective. Also, people with cancer who join up with clinical trials may have a worse prognosis than others (desperation leading them to try unproven techniques), and may have died anyway. I’m on an Institutional Review Board for a medical center, which reviews human research studies for ethics and potential for harm. We see a ton of cancer studies where you know by reading over the protocol that they expect all of the subjects to die, but maybe this treatment may lead to a better quality of life and/or a somewhat longer life for the people to experience with their families and friends. (Not all cancer studies are like this, but it is astonishingly common.) It’s important to confirm and double-check results, but I’m not convinced that this one abstract (which contains only a very limited amount of information, naturally) is the key to damn a treatment method that does often get real results. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/72 "2009-05-21T17:01:36Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > And this hemp oil contains CBD? 😕 I would assume so, since CBD is very high in fiber-type/industrial hemp compared to marijuana. Industrial hemp is where the hemp oil I cooked with comes from. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/73 "2009-05-21T17:19:37Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Heck, you only have to read the first phrase to see a falsehood! > Cancer is mainly a disease of the developed world. The rest of the world, and the majority of the worlds population, is pretty unconcerned with cancer; they are far too concerned with dying from such more basic diseases as dysentery, malaria, tuberculosis, and just plain starvation Not to mention their neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/74 "2009-05-21T17:29:02Z")
IMHO the conspiracy that really exists is to promote hemp as the solution to…well…_something_. I see tons of pro-hemp stuff on the web claiming it makes better shoes and clothes, better cures for illness, better food additives, better this and that. There are undoubtedly some uses for hemp – but there are tons of **other** natural, traditional, plant-derived substances with very useful properties that no one promotes. Especially no one posts arguments in favor of them on message boards. How come hemp gets so heavily promoted and not the others? My guess is that’s because few message board posters smoked a lot of sasparilla or aspirin or quinine in their high school days. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/75 "2009-05-21T18:50:53Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > How come hemp gets so heavily promoted and not the others? Some of it has to do with the comparative cost-effectiveness and carbon footprint of cultivating hemp, and the manufacturing costs when it comes to producing textiles and whatnot. There aren’t just “some” uses for hemp, there are _a great many_ uses for industrial hemp. It’s remarkably versatile. Basically, hemp is an extremely useful plant, but drug laws that target _marijuana_ aren’t drawing a distinction between the two, which is exceptionally dumb, in a lot of people’s opinion. Imagine outlawing corn, because despite all of its vast number of agricultural and industrial applications that benefit society (from eating it as a food, to using it to make plastic bags, to using it as a bio-fuel), a variant of corn exists that can be snorted to get high. Industrial hemp (useless to get high) has a similarly vast potential, but its industrial development is thwarted because of the plant’s relationship to THC-rich pot. I certainly wouldn’t say “Hemp can save the world!”, but I think we’re missing out by not taking advantage of it. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/76 "2009-05-21T23:00:22Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > It’s important to confirm and double-check results, but I’m not convinced that this one abstract (which contains only a very limited amount of information, naturally) is the key to damn a treatment method that does often get real results. Yeah, I’m curious which cancers they were looking at. Cancer is not a single disease, and that really can’t be overstated. Some types have a really solid cure. To take one example that’s been rather unfortunately highlighted in the media recently, Hodgkin’s lymphoma in children has essentially a 98% cure rate if treated. Other cancers resist every kind of treatment. And a lot of cancers show up very late in life, when even some magical instantaneous cure wouldn’t make a huge difference in the 5-year survival statistics. It’s likelier than not that your 75 year old patient won’t make it to 80 years old, even with a perfect cure. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/77 "2009-05-22T02:10:08Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > Yeah, I’m curious which cancers they were looking at. Cancer is not a single disease, and that really can’t be overstated. Some types have a really solid cure. To take one example that’s been rather unfortunately highlighted in the media recently, Hodgkin’s lymphoma in children has essentially a 98% cure rate if treated. Other cancers resist every kind of treatment. And a lot of cancers show up very late in life, when even some magical instantaneous cure wouldn’t make a huge difference in the 5-year survival statistics. It’s likelier than not that your 75 year old patient won’t make it to 80 years old, even with a perfect cure. If I remember, I’ll take a look at the full article when I’m in the lab tomorrow and see what it says. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/78 "2009-05-22T03:04:53Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > I would assume so, since CBD is very high in fiber-type/industrial hemp compared to marijuana. Industrial hemp is where the hemp oil I cooked with comes from. While CBD is not exactly psycho-active the way THC is, I’m to understand it can still leave a sort of high. Seems strange it would be sold unregulated. You bought this in the States? I’d try it out just out of curiosity. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/79 "2009-05-22T15:16:06Z")
> [@](#): > > The healing powers of hemp oil do not stop at cancer. First and foremost, Rick has not come across any cancer that hemp oil could not cure. However, he has also not seen a disease that hemp oil couldn’t cure. This includes cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, MS, pain disorders, mental disorders, and more. It is more difficult to think of something that hemp oil cannot cure, and while there are probably a few diseases that the oil does not work on, Rick has not found one yet. Hemp cures everything! Wheeeee! ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615/80 "2009-05-22T16:05:02Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > While CBD is not exactly psycho-active the way THC is, I’m to understand it can still leave a sort of high. Seems strange it would be sold unregulated. You bought this in the States? I’d try it out just out of curiosity. I used to eat raw hemp seeds by the fistful (they have decent iron content and have quite a very high protein concentration, which makes them good snack food for vegetarians). I certainly never got even the slightest of buzz. You can eat the seeds raw, whole or de-hulled. I found that de-hulled they have a pretty mild flavour, vaguely like sunflower seeds, but whole, your taste buds scream GREEN. The texture of whole seeds is kind of crappy because the hull feels kind of gritty when you’re chewing a big handful of them, but it has the added benefit of fiber. They also make flour out of the seeds (whole or de-hulled, you can make flour from either), but I’ve never tried hemp flour. I currently have a tub of hemp protein powder that I put in smoothies. It’s a great vegetarian alternative to whey-containing protein powders, but unlike soy powder, it won’t bung you up (soy powder is well-known for interfering with “regularity”) and you don’t have to worry about the estrogen-like stuff that soy has either. I can’t remember where I bought the oil. However, I was definitely cooking with the oil while I was living in Michigan, so I presumably bought it in the U.S. as part of my regular grocery shopping. I know you can order both hemp seeds, hemp powder, and organic hempseed oil from U.S. distributors. A quick Googling shows an online distributor in Utah sells organic hempseed oil for about $14 for 24 oz. I’m in Canada now so pretty much every health food store has hemp foods. I used it mostly in salads and for pasta in lieu of olive oil. I did fry stuff at low temperatures, but I’ve been told you’re not really supposed to heat hemp oil because the Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) break down into eeeeeeevil free radicals, or something. :: shrug :: I don’t know that much about that. I have used it for oiling pans and stuff to cook pancakes. Probably to fry fish filets. The flavor and color depends on the manufacturing process. [Cold pressed hemp oil is greenish](http://www.thesage.com/images/prod/t_NATURAL-HEMP-OIL.jpg) (like a darker grapeseed oil) and vaguely nutty in flavor. The Nutiva brand is much greener. Refined hemp oil apparently exists and is [really pale](http://www.thesage.com/images/prod/t_NATURAL-HEMP-OIL.jpg), but I don’t recall ever seeing the stuff in real life. BTW- in case anyone is wondering. I’m NOT a pot smoker. Back when I was 18 years old, I smoked a bit in college, but it got really boring, really fast. It just make me sleepy and I don’t do anything fun. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass either way if pot was legalized. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-cure-for-cancer/496615.md?page=5)