Now that medical marijuana is being slowly legalized across the world, it’s opened the door for scientists and researchers to conduct more studies and find out more about it. This has been the case when it comes to gastrointestinal cancer cells, as emphasized by a new study.

Cannabis Pharmaceuticals Inc, a leader in cannabis based medicine, and they recently announced a series of tests conducted at the company’s facility in Israel, it has been shown that the cannabinoids CBC (Cannabichromene) and CBG (Cannabigerol) both exhibit anti-tumor properties, they were tested on human Gastrointestinal Cancer Cells.

CBC is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid and is one of the naturally occurring Phyto-cannabinoids within the plant. It may have a wide variety of potential therapeutic qualities and may promote antimicrobial, anti‐inflammatory, analgesic, and neurogenesis activity.

In these tests, the HTS platform was utilized to screen the necrotic effects of a variety of cannabinoids on human Gastrointestinal cancer cells, in addition to other cancer types previously tested. CBC and CBG were both shown to induce significantly higher rates of necrosis in these cancer cells compared to other cannabinoids, thus strengthening previously obtained results.

Dr. Yaakov Waksman, the company’s head of cannabidiol research, said, “My working assumption is that these results show that a correlation may exist between a cannabinoid’s Topological Polar Surface Area (TPSA) value and its ability to induce anti-tumor activity, diminishing cancer cell’s viability rates. CBC and CBG, as neutral cannabinoids, were both found to have a TPSA value which allows the cannabinoid molecule to penetrate a cancer cell’s membrane, whereas their acidic form (CBCA and CBGA) – do not. This could explain the difference in anti-tumor activity rates demonstrated”.

Dr. Eyal Ballan, CTO and Co-Founder, commented, “Gastrointestinal cancers are amongst the leading and most wide-spread causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. We are intrigued by the results we have obtained in the lab, and our aim is to consider placing an emphasis on this organ system, and to further explore the differential anti-tumor properties of cannabinoids. We believe that these preliminary results vindicate our vision; which is to bring personalization into cannabinoid-based cancer treatments.” (source)

published in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and it analyzed long-term effects of daily cannabis consumption among 127 IBD patients. The subjects involved in the study typically had either ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, and less than 70% of them were consuming cannabis.

On another note, according to another recent study:

The average dose used was 31 ± 15 g/month. The average Harvey-Bradshaw index improved from 14 ± 6.7 to 7 ± 4.7 (P < 0.001) during a median follow-up of 44 months (interquartile range, 24-56 months). There was a slight, but statistically significant, average weight gain of 2 kg within 1 year of cannabis use. The need for other medications was significantly reduced. Employment among patients increased from 65 to 74% (P < 0.05). We conclude that the majority of inflammatory bowel disease patients using cannabis are satisfied with a dose of 30 g/month. We did not observe negative effects of cannabis use on the patients’ social or occupational status.

Cannabis use by inflammatory bowel disease patients can induce clinical improvement and is associated with reduced use of medication and slight weight gain. Most patients respond well to a dose of 30 g/month, or 21 mg Δ9-tetra- hydrocannabinol (THC) and 170 mg Cannabidiol (CBD) per day.