A 49-year-old woman appears to have successfully treated her breast cancer using cannabis oil and magic mushrooms.
Published in the journal Drug Science, the case reveals that the woman stopped chemotherapy and started using THC and CBD-rich cannabis oil and microdoses of psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
This put her advanced metastatic breast cancer into remission and saw her remain disease-free for 18 months.
Upon halting her use of cannabis and mushrooms, the cancer came back.
While the case study is extremely promising and highlights the therapeutic potential of cannabis and mushrooms, it’s important not to get too carried away. The study is merely observational and more studies are needed to determine how this therapy may have worked.
The case
A 49-year-old woman from the UK was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2018, which had metastasised to her liver, lymph nodes, and some parts of her bones.
The diagnosis was pretty discouraging, in all honesty.
But in a last-ditch effort, she began to self-administer cannabis oil and small doses (or microdoses) of psilocybin mushrooms – better known as magic mushrooms.
After several months, in January 2019, she was tested by her doctors, and they found that all her tumours had vanished. This was obviously a massive shock to both the doctors and the patient.
According to the study, despite discontinuing conventional cancer treatment in the form of chemotherapy, the patient remained disease-free for 18 months while ingesting cannabis and psilocybin only.
More tests were done in September 2019 and there was still no sign of the tumors. It was at this point that she decided to reduce the amount of cannabis oil she was ingesting and completely stopped with the psilocybin altogether.
But in June of 2020, it was found that her cancer had returned.
This prompted doctors to rebegin chemotherapy, while the patient also started to begin her cannabis oil and psilocybin therapies again.
In October 2021, it was reported that her tumors had been “stabilised”. And that concludes the information.
We’re currently unsure as to whether her tumors had shrunk once again, or if her conditions had worsened.
Cannabis and cancer
Breast cancer is now the most diagnosed type of cancer in women after surpassing lung cancer.
What’s more, efforts to reduce the mortality rate are highly warranted due to the fact that around 13% of all women diagnosed with breast cancer, unfortunately, have a lifetime diagnosis of the disease.
While there is no solid proof that cannabis can effectively treat certain types of cancer, there is reason to believe it’s possible.
Research from 2020 found that cannabis use may be associated with a range of positive health benefits, including decreased obesity, inflammation and diabetes risk, as well as a 10% reduction in cancer rates.
In 2021, we reported on a case of a smoker in her 80s who saw a 75% reduction in the size of her lung cancer tumour after using cannabis oil, despite continuing to smoke cigarettes.
Perhaps the main action of cannabis reducing cancer risk is the direct antitumor properties of cannabis compounds, including psychoactive and non-psychoactive cannabinoids, as well as flavonoids and possibly terpenes.
“Cannabinoids inhibit tumor initiation, metastasis, vascular adhesiveness, tissue invasiveness, and angiogenesis, while selectively stimulating apoptosis of cancer cells. They thus, by multiple mechanisms, inhibit all stages of cancer initiation, development, growth, and spread,” this 2021 meta analysis reports.
“As a result, in laboratory studies and animal models, cannabinoids destroy tumors while leaving surrounding cells unharmed. In laboratory studies, cannabinoids inhibit gliomas, thyroid epithelioma, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, and carcinomas of the oral region, lung, skin, uterus, breast, prostate, pancreas, and colon.”
The inclusion of psilocybin
Magic mushrooms were introduced at microdose levels, administered by a trained therapist, and the study quotes that the effects of the cannabis became more tolerable.
With a mixture of the two substances, it was noted that there was a sense of calm, clarity, and improved overall well-being.
The patient also experienced less anxiety and was able to tolerate the psychoactive effects of the THC.
More importantly, the emotional burden of going through whole experience of having cancer became easier to deal with. It was described as witnessing an experience rather than being overly distressed about what she was going through.
Interestingly, according to a meta-analysis of 17 cancer studies, mushroom consumption is associated with a lower risk of cancer, particularly breast cancer.
Researchers found that people who regularly ate any type of mushrooms had a lower risk of cancer. According to the findings, individuals who ate 18 grams of mushrooms daily had a 45% lower risk of cancer compared to those who did not eat mushrooms.
It was also found that the protective effects of mushrooms were most strongly associated with reduced breast cancer risk.
Read: Best Magic Mushroom Grow Kits (UK)
“Cannabis will ease the suffering of so many”
The following is a quote from the patient:
“When one is diagnosed with cancer, the mental, physical and emotional events which consume and slowly chip away at ones humanity become a daily routine.
“Everything changes in a heartbeat, and suddenly death becomes your daily counterpart. It’s dehumanizing, demoralizing, and just plain horrific.
“Cannabis changes all of this. It will ease the suffering of so many, as it eased mine. Cannabis provides hope. It provides help when you feel you can’t go on. I was able to eat. I was able to sleep. The nausea was almost non-existent. I could function. I could work. I was no longer slave to my disease.
“Imagine a world that embraces cannabis as as a true medicinal plant that heals those afflicted with illness. That is the hope cannabis provides.
“It heals. It restores. It gives life. And access should NEVER be in question.”
Study: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20503245221114323
Read: How Easy Is It To Buy Cannabis Online In The UK?
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