In a report issued by a U.S. government-funded research group tasked with studying drug abuse and addiction, researchers are admitting that marijuana is useful in killing off specific types of brain tumors.
The report — coming from a government-backed group with annual budget of over $1 billion — arrives at an awkward time for the administration following an announcement by the Department of Justice this week that it will continue to prosecute medical marjiuana cases [3] against individuals in defiance of Congress.
According to the Daily Caller [4], the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) issued a revised report for the month of April, stating, “recent animal studies have shown that marijuana can kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others. Evidence from one animal study suggests that extracts from whole-plant marijuana can shrink one of the most serious types of brain tumors. Research in mice showed that these extracts, when used with radiation, increased the cancer-killing effects of the radiation.”
The NIDA report reflects research reported in November last year [5] in the Molecular Cancer Therapies journal.
While one government agency is admitting the benefits of marijuana in medical treatments, the Justice Department is pushing forward with prosecuting medical marijuana users.
In December, Congress added an amendment to a spending bill ordering the Justice Department to not inhibit states where medical marijuana is legal from implementing their laws.