Research has suggested cannabis oil and magic mushrooms may have helped halt the spread of a woman’s cancer.
If Carlsberg did cancer studies… you get the gist.
A new case report found that a 49-year-old woman with advanced metastatic breast cancer remained disease-free for 18 months after stopping conventional treatment and only using cannabis and psilocybin.
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When the individual stopped taking the psychoactive drugs, her cancer returned, according to a study published in journal Drug Science.
It’s worth noting that the woman was also undergoing chemotherapy at the time her cancer was found to have stopped spreading, although she did have an 18-month break from the treatment.
What’s more, this is of course just a single case, so it’s not a given that weed and psychedelics were responsible for the woman’s recovery.
The patient received a cancer diagnosis in August 2018 when it was confirmed she had stage four breast cancer. Soon after her initial diagnosis, doctors noted that the cancer had spread to her liver, lymph nodes and bones.
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Chemotherapy was immediately prescribed and the patient also started self-treating with cannabis oil.
In November 2018, she had her first psychedelic therapy session, which involved her ingesting magic mushrooms under supervision.
Scans taken in January 2019 showed the cancer had vanished with ‘no evidence of residual or recurrent disease’.
Study authors continued: “This highlights in the first phase of treatment the possibility of the therapeutic adjunctive effect of both psychedelics and cannabinoids in treating metastatic breast cancer.”
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Eventually, the woman stopped having chemotherapy and continued to use cannabis oil daily alongside magic mushroom microdoses.
For the next two years, the patient also underwent three sessions of high-dose psychedelic therapy.
In September 2019, scans confirmed the cancer hadn’t returned, and the patient reduced her cannabis intake.
But in June 2020, tests revealed the cancer was back, with study authors saying: “This brings up the possibility that withdrawal of the cannabinoid and psychedelic therapies may have contributed to the return of the cancer.”
Once the patient learned her cancer had returned, she reintroduced psychedelics and upped her cannabis ingestion, which coincided with a ‘stabilisation’ of her illness.
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The study authors concluded: “The overall picture of the case presents the strong possibility that cannabinoids and psychedelics have played an important modulatory or additive role to standardised treatment, which warrants further exploration.”
While it’s not proof that cannabis or psychedelics can have any direct impact on tumour development, it’s exciting to know that new avenues are being explored.
Aisha Nozari