A Miracle Plant That Eases

Imagine one of your siblings is diagnosed with brain tumor, a group or mass of abnormal cells that start in the brain. Doctors are trying their best to help provide the best medical service to your sibling, but nothing is working. You, feeling vulnerable and unable to do anything, watch your sibling go through chemotherapy every day, but there is no improvement. While driving home one afternoon, as you’re listening to the radio, a cancer patient is interviewed. He stated that marijuana is the only cure that is easing his pain away to this day. Desperately, you go out of your way and after plenty of research, you discover that many sick cancer patients are using marijuana to ease their pain. You talked to your sibling about the possibility and your sibling agrees to take this drug. When you ask your sibling’s doctor about prescribing marijuana to your sibling, he tells you that he can’t because it is illegal to prescribe marijuana to any patient in the state that you live in. In this case, what are you going to do?

Among the many cases related to this situation, there is one story that I found so astonishing and I would love to share it with my audience. I would like to tell a very interesting case about a father who secretly fed medical marijuana to his two-year old son who was suffering from a brain tumor.  Cash Hyde, 2-year-old at the time, had a stage 4 brain tumor surrounding his optic nerve. There were no pediatric oncology facilities in Montana, so Cash was sent to Salt Lake City’s Primary Children’s Hospital, the nearest treatment center. Doctors said that he would likely die soon and he nearly did after being subjected to seven different chemotherapy drugs which caused him to suffer septic shock, a stroke and pulmonary hemorrhaging. Cash became critically ill causing him to go 40 days without eating so his organs shut down. It was at a point that his father, Mike Hyde, couldn’t stand his son’s suffering anymore and intervened. Mr. Hyde took action and got his son a marijuana card so he can purchase the drug legally. Knowing that it is illegal to use marijuana oil in Utah, Mr. Hyde secretly slipped cannabis oil into Cash’s feeding tube. Within days, his son started looking better. Cash, now 3, is declared cancer free by doctors. Mr. Hyde believes that it was the cannabis oil that helped his son eat again and that the drug cured Cash’s cancer. Although I agree that the cannabis oil did help his son gain an appetite so that he can go through chemotherapy, I have to disagree that the drug does cure cancer. 

Photo: Cash Hyde (2 years old) battling brain tumor.

Cannabis does not cure cancer; rather it eases the pain caused by cancer. Going though chemotherapy caused little Cash’s tiny body to nearly shut down because he couldn’t consume any food in his body. This was the main reason why he became critically ill. Once Mr. Hyde slipped cannabis oil into his fragile son’s feeding tube, the chemical THC, activated within the cancer cells and inhibited Cash’s brain tumor growth. THC, the active chemical in cannabis, is the ingredient that “causes tumor cells to degrade themselves from the inside (a process called autophagy, i.e. "self-eating"). Autophagy has been shown to promote cell survival in some cases and cell death in others, [but] in this case it causes cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death (apoptosis)” (Anthis, 2009). THC prevented Cash’s brain tumor from growing at a fast rate, and it allowed him to eat again which successfully helped him go through chemotherapy and healed sooner.

This story raised serious questions about a parent’s role in medical treatment and created a controversial issue among the US federal government. The US federal government does not recognize the legality of using the drug for medical reasons because it usually collides with states over the issue. However, I disagree with the US federal government. I believe that marijuana should be legal to any sick patient who is desperate for a painkiller. Cannabis, a powerful drug, does eases most pain and should be prescribed to only sick patients. In this case, I believe that Mr. Hyde did the right thing for his son. The medical marijuana did help his son go through chemotherapy by easing the pain so that he can eat again. If you were in Mr. Hyde’s shoes, would you have done the same???

To see and read the story, click on the link below: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/montana-father-medical-marijuana-cancer-stricken-toddler-son/story?id=13529490

Anthis, Nick. "THC Gives Cancer Cells the Munchies Too : The Scientific Activist." ScienceBlogs. 2 Apr. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. <http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/2009/04/thc_gives_cancer_cells_the_mun.php>.

Cyclizing Chemicals Inside Marijuana

What if there was a chemical found in marijuana that can prevent and even heal several deadly cancers? Just think of how many sick cancer patients there are out there waiting for a treatment to cure them. In this blog, I intend to explain a couple of important chemicals found in cannabis that relieves the pain for any sick patients. I will also explain the idea of mechanism and a little on how molecules cyclized. When molecules are cyclized, a whole new molecule forms which makes a whole new compound. This makes the chemical react a bit differently from its original chemical. 

There are over 426 chemicals found in cannabis. This is because there are a variety of multiple mechanisms in this plant. Mechanism is the sequence of steps during which a chemical reaction occurs, including the transition state during which the reactants are converted into products. In the forum, “The Mechanism of Action of Cannabis,” it stated that

[t]he active ingredient of cannabis is ∆⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆⁹-THC) is thought to exert its effect by binding to cannabinoid CB1 receptors on pre-synaptic nerve terminals in the brain. ∆⁹-THC binding to CB1 receptors activates G-proteins that activate/inhibit a number of signal transduction pathways. The G-proteins directly inhibit N and P/Q-type voltage dependant calcium channels and sodium channels and indirectly inhibit A-type calcium channels via inhibition of adenylate cyclase. ∆⁹-THC binding and G-protein activation also activates inwardly rectifying potassium channels and the MAP kinase signalling pathway. The cumulative effect of these pathways is the euphoric feelings associated with cannabis use.

Below, the diagram describes the idea of how ∆⁹-THC binds to cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), a G protein-coupled cannabinoid receptor located in the brain, to activate G-proteins. G-proteins (guanine nucleotide-binding proteins) are a family of protiens involved in transmitting chemical signals outside the cell which causes the changes inside a cell. The diagram also shows how ∆⁹-THC binds G-protein inwardly to rectify potassium channels and the MAP kinase (mitogen-activated protein) signaling pathways. MAP kinases are serine/threonine-specific protein kinases that respond to extracellular stimuli (mitogens, osmotic stress, heat shock, and proinflammatory cytokines) and regulate various cellular activities, such as gene expression, mitosis, differentiation, proliferation, and cell survival/apoptosis.

 

Cannabis’s active ingredient ∆⁹-THC activates itself as a particle in order to ease the kinase (phosphotransferase), a type of enzyme that transfers phosphate groups from high-energy donor molecules. This is also known as Adenosine Tri-Phosphate (ATP), a multifunctiona nucleotide used in cells as a coenzyme, to specific substrates, inside the nerve terminal.

Within 426 chemicals, about 85 of them are cannabinoids, the parent compound of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).  Cannabinoid is the active principle of marijuana, which has been isolated from cannabis plant. It has been isolated because these classes all derive from cannabigerol-type compounds and are different mainly in the way they cyclized. Cyclized is where one part of this molecule can undergo another and create a whole new molecule. This is also known as mechanism. When this happens, a new molecule is created and will have a different melting point and boiling point. The melting and boiling points in every molecule are important because it determines how strong or weak the bonds are. For instances, if heat is added the substance will react faster.  It is very important to understand how each molecule is different from one another. Let’s look at the classes from cannabigerol-type compound in the way this precursor is cyclized. The molecule structure of cannabigerol is different from cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabinoid found in cannabis which is a constituent of the plant. They behave differently and affect or relieve humans differently. For example, cannabigerol relieves intraocular pressure which benefits in the treatment of glaucoma and cannabidol relieves convulsion, inflammation, anxiety, and nausea. This portrays that the chemicals found in cannabis, marijuana, are very powerful such that it really eases the pain for sick patients.

 

cannabigerol-type molecule structure

cannabidol-type molecule structure

Note the differences among both structures.  Each have a different mechanism which makes them both different from one another.