The Medical Cannabis Guidebook. Mel Thomas
for Cancer Research, that cannabis constituents inhibited the spread of brain cancer in human tumor biopsies.36
Led by Dr. Manuel Guzman, the Spanish team announced they had destroyed incurable brain cancer tumors in rats by injecting them with THC. This work still continues and the authors recently supplied the team with a quantity of their laboratory tested 1:1 (THC:CBD) oil containing 40% CBD with total active cannabinoids at 80%. This oil was made using the techniques described in this book, in later chapters, and research has shown that CBD (cannabidiol)–a nontoxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant–acts as a more potent inhibitor of cancer cell growth than other cannabinoids, including THC. The compound is particularly efficacious in halting the spread of breast cancer cells by triggering apoptosis (programmed cell death).
Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco have also shown that CBD, can stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancers, stating:37
“We started by researching breast cancer, but now we’ve found that cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers; brain, prostate and any kind in which these high levels of ID-1 are present.”
Even if only anecdotal evidence exists regarding the efficacy of cannabis oil treatment on cancerous tumors in patients, then surely every cancer sufferer has the right to be informed about this and given the opportunity to try it. This is not a personal freedom argument but a discussion regarding the fundamental human right to life. Access to a potentially life-saving medication should not be subject to any laws whatsoever. People denied cannabis oil treatment have died of cancers that all of the available evidence suggests may have been entirely treatable. In the following chapters we’ll look at the basic history and makeup of the cannabis plant, how its beneficial contents can best be extracted and administered and we’ll also detail the nutritional benefits that can be derived from non-psychoactive varieties available such as hemp seeds and cold pressed hemp oils. The aim is to help people make their own informed decisions regarding cannabis use, regardless of the government’s refusal to supply this information or allow cannabis use.
Maturing cannabis flower.
Cannabis sativa is a member of the Moraceae family and can grow to between 3 and 15 feet (1 and 4.5 meters), depending on the variety.1 Landrace is the term used to describe a wild-growing cannabis strain that has evolved in the isolation of a specific geographic region. Over time, these isolated strains began to evolve their own distinct traits best suited for survival in their region. Cannabis strains as we know them today are the result of crossbreeding and hybridization of these distinct landraces.
Hemp is the common name for plants of the entire genus C. sativa, although the term now refers only to cannabis strains cultivated for fiber and not drug crops. Botanists still cannot agree as to which family cannabis belongs; initially, it was classified as one of the Nettle family (Urticaceae), although this was based more upon visual characteristic. It was later reclassified into the Fig family (Moraceae). However, this is still causing disagreement, so cannabis is now classified as Cannabaceae, along with the genus of hop plants. In most studies, hemp and hops are not separated from each other, but are reported as hops/hemp or Cannabaceae.2
Cannabis is dioecious; meaning that the plant will be either male or female. In unusual circumstances it can develop into a hermaphrodite (monoecious) plant; this means that both male and female flowers appear on the same plant. Only the female produces flowers containing significant amounts of cannabinoids. These flowers are referred to as “buds” and they are more potent if the female is unfertilized by the male. These flowers are also known as sensimilla, meaning seedless in Spanish. Males and hermaphrodites are of no use to the medical or recreational cannabis consumer so growers must ensure that they cultivate only female plants by either taking cuttings from an established female mother plant or by starting the crop with feminized seeds to guarantee an all-female crop.
Young cannabis plant.
To regulate its development, the plant reads the amount of light it receives using a hormone called phytochrome, which acts as a photoreceptor, and is basically a pigment that plants use to detect light. When a cannabis plant receives over 12 hours of uninterrupted daylight, it deduces that it is early in the season and grows in what is referred to as the vegetative stage. This is when growth is focused on developing roots, branches and leaves. Once the amount of daylight falls below 12 hours, the plant changes its growth cycle into the flowering stage. This occurs naturally in the fall (autumn) as the plant prepares to breed and produce seeds for the following year, before dying back. Indoor growers can manipulate the light cycle without causing any problems to the plant by using timing switches on artificial lights that force the plant into thinking the season has changed. The flowering stage can be induced after as little as two weeks’ vegetative growth. Outdoor growers can effect the same response in their plants by covering them or placing them in a dark room to ensure they are only receiving 12 hours of sunlight or less. There is no difference in the cannabinoid content of plants flowered after only two weeks’ vegetative growth when compared to those given a longer vegetative period. The plants receiving the shorter period will simply be smaller and yield less.
There are three distinct cannabis drug varieties grown specifically for their compounds, a complex fusion of approximately 60 different cannabinoids and over 400 active components, principally THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol).3 These are:
This landrace originates from equatorial regions and its plants can reach heights in excess of 15 feet (4.5 meters). They produce thin, spiky leaves and massive colas (where the flowers or buds grow together tightly) that are not very dense. Pure cannabis sativa strains are not generally used for indoor cultivation due to their size and maturation time. Cannabis sativa can take up four to eight times the space of a compact cannabis indica variety. There are now many hybrid varieties available for grow room cultivation, where the harvested flowers benefit from a high calyx-to-leaf ratio (meaning there are less leaves to trim from the finished buds).
A sativa-dominant female hybrid plant.
This landrace originates from the mountainous regions of Central Asia. Local strains were collected from Kashmir, Pakistan, Northern India and Nepal during the early 1960s and these native plants became the gene pool for many of today’s varieties. They are characteristically stocky and hardy plants that produce broad, maple-like leaves and rarely reach heights in excess of 7 feet (2 meters) outdoors, producing heavy, tight flowers that are high in psychoactive content. Cannabis indica or indica-dominant hybrid plants are ideal for grow rooms and smaller medical cultivation set ups.
An indica-dominant