The more that’s learned and shared about the cannabis (marijuana) plant, the more it seems to be a panacea under the right circumstances. Some references now say there are over 500 compounds in the plant, with over 120 being defined as phytocannabinoids, all with presumed therapeutic benefits. The most common of these are THC and CBD, but research is just beginning on the others.
The reason for cannabinoids powerful impact on human physiology is because they interact with our own endocannabinoid system. It’s a regulatory system that responds to plant compounds, having evolved with us early on, and is involved in nearly every aspect of regulating and maintaining homeostasis. It makes sense really that we’d have such an integration with the plant world, since they provide the foundation for so much of our intake.
In this study the authors chose to evaluate the effects of 12 different cannabis extracts with varying profiles on 12 different cancer cell lines. It was found that there was a wide variance of effects on cancer cell lines among the unique extracts, and a given extract would effect different cell lines from the same organ in different fashions.
These varying effects went well beyond the basic percentages of THC and CBD, and beyond the ratio between them. While cannabis extracts demonstrate varying degrees of cancer inhibition and cancer cell destruction, it is known that the whole plant product works better in most cases than isolates such as THC or CBD alone.
This means that the power of the plant is found in the combination of its many components, not from any single one of its molecules. With more work like this we may soon have more specific guidelines to help counter such conditions as cancer.
