Cancer Patient Claims Illegal Medical Marijuana Healed Him

According to a recent news feature from ABC News, a 56-year-old patient was dying from a rare form of cancer in his bile duct. He now says illegal marijuana healed him.

His doctor told him he needed to have what is known as a “Whipple Procedure.”

This procedure, formally known as a pancreaticoduodenectomy is a very serious surgery requiring the physician operate on multiple organs in a patient’s digestive system, including the pancreas and duodenum. The patient’s bile duct and gallbladder are also commonly removed as part of this intensive procedure. Up to half of the patient’s stomach is removed.

If the surgery is successful, it can increase a patient’s chance of survival from certain types of cancers by as much as 25 percent.

However, in this case, after having a Whipple procedure, patient’s cancer did not subside. Instead, it spread to what was left of his liver and his lungs. At this point, there was not much doctors could do other than try chemotherapy as a last-ditch effort. Doctors told him would be dead in 11 months. This patient decided to use medical marijuana along with the chemotherapy. However, medical marijuana is not legal where he lives.

After five months of treatment, he said the cancer in his lungs was gone, and the cancer in his liver had decreased in size substantially. Doctors say this is unheard of with this type of bile duct cancer. The patient credits his survival in large part to medical marijuana.

The reason for this is because the chemotherapy and the tumors left him unable to eat and in a great deal of pain. It was the medical marijuana that allowed him to get through the chemo and made him able to eat. As he said, if you cannot eat, you will not heal. He also said, it allowed him to sleep, and this is also important to the healing process.

At first, he told his story to the media without revealing his name, and his account went viral on social media. He did not reveal his name, because he knew he was breaking the law and could have been arrested and charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. However, he decided that it was too important for patients with cancer to know about how medical marijuana saved him and decided he would be a better resource if he identified himself to the general public.

He did not smoke marijuana. Instead, he used a type of cannabis oil he made in his own home. He also used a vaporizer to inhale the medical marijuana. This allows for the benefits of medical marijuana without many of the other health risks associated with smoking marijuana.

He also said that he cannot believe that marijuana Schedule I controlled substance. The U.S. government has classified it as such, meaning it is considered to be high risk with no acceptable medical uses. It is hard to believe that congress still clings to this archaic definition, which was never supported by science. This case offers yet another example for what that classification must change.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:
Update: Cancer patient illegally healed with medical marijuana identifies himself, February 17, 2016, ABC News, By Kendra Nichols

More Blog Entries:
New Statewide Regs Push for Local Bans on Medical Marijuana, Feb. 3, 2016, Los Angeles Marijuana Lawyer Blog