CBD cannabinoid COMPLETELY prevents neuropathic pain from breast cancer chemo

http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=241299

The headline in the Jerusalem Post says "may" but the researcher says CBD DOES prevent this sort of debilitating pain in their animal studies. Spain has already performed studies on CBD for brain cancer in humans in a very small study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16804518

“We found that cannabidiol completely prevented the onset of the neuropathic, or nerve pain caused by the chemo drug Paclitaxel, which is used to treat breast cancer,” said (Sarah Jane) Ward, who is also a research associate professor in Temple’s Center for Substance Abuse Research.

Ward became interested in this current study after attending a conference in which she learned about a pain state that is induced by chemo-therapeutic agents, especially those used to treat breast cancer, which can produce really debilitating neuropathic pain.

Cannabidiol has also demonstrated the ability to decrease tumor activity in animal models, said Ward, which could make it an effective therapeutic for breast cancer, especially if you “combined it with a chemo agent like Paclitaxel, which we already know works well.”

According to Ward, there are currently about 10 clinical trials underway in the United States for cannabidiol on a range of different disorders, including cannabis dependence, eating disorders and schizophrenia. Because of this, she believes it will be easier to establish a clinical trial for cannabidiol as a therapeutic against neuropathic pain associated with chemo drugs.

link to the abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21737705

NORML reported on the therapeutic properties of CBD in 2007

http://norml.org/news/2007/11/21/pot-compound-may-offer-non-toxic-alternative-to-chemotherapy

Yet another reason to repeal prohibition - the existence of health benefits to cannabis as a whole (THC and CBD have health-care applications) puts the lie to the DEA claim that no health benefits exist.

further proof that some parts of our govt. are resistant to evidence and lack the moral capacity to act upon this evidence to the betterment of this society.