Two Words You Should Never Utter to Your Doctor

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Posted By Dr. Mercola | September 24 2011 | 52,718 views

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Cut Poison Burn from Nehst on Vimeo.

Important! The producers of this powerful film are allowing a full and FREE preview through TODAY! Please tell everyone you know to watch this film in its entirety TODAY. Please support the film by purchasing a copy for only $10 below!

Story at-a-glance

In the US, parents, shockingly, can lose their children if they refuse conventional cancer therapy. Child Protective Services are routinely called in to charge parents who want a "second opinion" - perhaps to investigate alternative therapies, charging them with child abuse and neglect when refusing conventional treatment. The documentary film Cut Poison Burn follows the tragic case of Jim and Donna Navarro, who fought the medical monopoly in an effort to save their son, Thomas, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of four. Four primary organizations making life and death decisions about you and your family include the FDA, the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, and the child services system. These are the white-collar bureaucrats whose primary objective is to protect Big Pharma profits and the cancer industry itself. To address this kind of medical injustice, educate yourself and become familiar with your local representatives so you can educate them. Also help support Navarro's legislation to protect Patient's Rights, soon to be reintroduced.

By Dr. Mercola

You may recognize Jim Navarro from the documentary film Cut Poison Burn, which I recently posted. You can watch the entire film for free. If you haven't seen it yet, I urge you to take the time to view it now.

Jim is the father of Thomas Navarro, who at the age of four was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer. The family ended up in a protracted battle against the medical monopoly after objecting to the conventional treatment, choosing instead to seek out less invasive, less damaging, and less life threatening approaches. However, the medical system's response was swift and callous.

In fact, in the months that followed Thomas' diagnosis, the family went into hiding to keep their son away from the authorities who threatened to take him into custody, charging Jim and Donna Navarro with child abuse and neglect.

The Navarro's wanted to use Dr. Burzynski's non-toxic, highly successful antineoplaston treatment instead of conventional chemotherapy and radiation. However, the FDA went to great lengths to prevent Thomas from receiving the therapy, and only after extensive legal wrangling, great expense, and being forced to submit to conventional treatment first did the family finally receive approval to use Dr. Burzynski. Unfortunately, at that point it was too late. The damage from the chemo was too great, and he lost his battle with cancer at the tender age of six. His death certificate states the cause of death as:

Respiratory failure due to chronic toxicity of chemotherapy

Since the death of his son, Jim Navarro has been championing a patient's rights act to prevent this tragic injustice from occurring again.

For full article please follow link at the top

Guest Post: Power over Cancer

submitted by David Haas

Power over Cancer

Not too long ago, cancer patients did not have the luxury of joining a cancer support group.; Now, cancer patients can join online groups and still receive the same benefits as in-person groups. However, some people do not understand just how important these support groups are to cancer patients. There are groups that help people have or have gone through all different types of cancer including but not limited to breast cancer, colon cancer, and even rare cancers such as mesothelioma.

Often times, when patients undergo extensive cancer treatment, their positive sense of well-being diminishes. Moreover, their body has to work extra hard to repair the healthy tissues and cells that the surgery and radiation treatment kills. These combined, can really hurt a person's sense of well-being, optimism, and positive outlook.

However, studies show that there is power in numbers, and this also applies to cancer support groups. Here are a few ways that cancer support groups help cancer patients.

It allows them to talk about their feelings

It is not healthy to bottle up your feelings and worries. Cancer support groups, like the American Cancer Society, are designed to help patients express what is on their mind, helping them to explain their worries. After talking about their fears, patients can feel relief knowing they have told someone else what they are feeling who is going through the same thing.

It helps them understand their condition

Patients in remission can teach new patients what they should expect and what it will be like. Knowing this can help patients be prepared mentally and emotionally for their future, something doctors can rarely do for patients. Additionally, some patients don't understand everything their doctor tells them, usually because of stress and worry. In a relaxed setting, other patients can answer the new patient's questions, helping them even more to feel comfortable about their condition.

It is therapeutic

Patients who are in remission often have a sense of obligation to help new patients. Therefore, cancer support groups are just as much for patients who are in remission and also cancer-free. It allows them the opportunity to have closure about their condition and help new patients at the same time. This article from cancer.about.com, also details how cancer support groups are therapeutic.

Conclusion

Virtually anyone can attend a cancer support group, even friends and family of people with cancer, or people who just want to learn more about cancer. Additionally, patients can also join online support groups, making it very easy to find a community of people who are going through the exact same cancer treatment.

By: David Haas

New Cancer Drug Price May Top $100,000

Seattle Genetics cancer drug price may top $100,000
By Alina Selyukh | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The price of Seattle Genetics Inc's blood cancer drug Adcetris could top $100,000 for a course of treatment, becoming the latest cancer medicine to come at a high cost.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday gave its nod to Adcetris, the first drug specifically indicated for anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and the first one approved for Hodgkin's lymphoma since 1977.

Seattle Genetics on Monday said the drug will cost $4,500 per vial. In its clinical trials, the company said, patients on average received three vials per dose and between seven and nine doses per treatment.

The total price would then generally vary from $94,500 to $121,500 per patient, within Wall Street's expected range.

The drugmaker's shares were down 2.3 percent to $14.70 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq, underperforming the Nasdaq Biotech index, which was down 0.3 percent.

"Seattle Genetics' decision to price Adcetris north of $100,000 seems to be causing some concern in the investment community following the recent failure of Dendreon's Provenge to live to up to sales expectations," said Morningstar Inc analyst Lauren Migliore.

Adcetris is the latest cancer drug to hit the market with a hefty pricetag to the discontent of patient groups.

Earlier this month, Dendreon Corp lost two-thirds of its market value when it could not deliver on promised sales of its prostate cancer vaccine Provenge, which costs about $93,000 per course, as doctors weren't confident enough about getting reimbursed.

"I think you get a reason for pushback (against highly-priced cancer drugs) because many of these cancer drugs are really not that effective, but in this case I think it's one of the most effective drugs out there," Leerink Swann analyst Howard Liang said of Adcetris.

"I would think that the pricing is high but it's not outrageous compared to other cancer drugs."

In March, U.S. regulators approved Bristol Myers Squibb Co's Yervoy for patients with advanced melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. A course of treatment with Yervoy costs about $120,000.

Earlier in August the FDA approved another melanoma drug, Zelboraf by Roche Holding, which costs about $56,400 for a six-month course of treatment.

"Life science companies are aware of the debt and deficit situation in Washington, D.C., and that indirectly limiting Medicare and Medicaid drug prices could be on the horizon," said Ipsita Smolinski, senior health policy analyst at Capitol Street.

For Adcetris, however, the patient population is generally younger and so more likely to rely on private insurance than federal programs, making the pricetag less controversial, analysts said.

About 9,000 Americans a year are diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and 3,000 with ALCL.

(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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http://news.yahoo.com/seattle-genetics-cancer-drug-price-may-top-100-182806648.html

Medicinal THC: “This is a miracle, “His doctors can’t explain it…”

July 5, 2011

By Branson Hunter

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Desert Star Weekly | A Modern Day Shaman | June 30,2011

The time may be here when we can finally remove the first two words from the question, “What if cannabis cures cancer?” For years, I had heard about the pioneering work being done by a superhero named Rick Simpson in treating various forms of cancer with a super concentrated form of hash oil, but I had never encountered anybody who had tried the treatment – until now.

A recently discovered “friend of a friend” who lives in a nearby community has been making the oil for several years and has some amazing success stories to relate. Because he is a teacher, he needs to keep his identity on the “down-low,” so for this story, we will refer to him as The ShaMan, or SM.

ShaMan’s story started out innocently enough when he observed a close neighbor moving some equipment from his garage. His neighbor assumed SM would know the purpose of the equipment, but the future ShaMan didn’t have a clue his neighbor was a medical marijuana patient and had been growing marijuana right next door to him for over a year. His curiosity regarding the legality of this activity, and even more important, the stated health benefits, started SM’s quest to learn as much as he could about MMJ.

Being a teacher by profession and nature, ShaMan learned of the many different ailments that cannabis seemed to help; but what really caught his attention, was the effectiveness of the cannabinoids found in marijuana in shrinking various types of cancer tumors. His research eventually led him to Rick Simpson’s website (www.phoenixtears.ca) which detailed how to make the oils used in treating many types of cancer and other diseases.

SM’s neighbor supplied him enough raw material to make up a small batch of oil, but, oddly, he had a difficult time finding anyone with cancer who was willing to try the treatment. “Most people are afraid to try any treatment outside of chemo and radiation even though some cancers have a zero percent chance of success like pancreatic cancer,” says The ShaMan.

Patient #1, a gentleman in his late 50’s, decided to use the oil as a last resort after his doctors sent him home with the expectation that he wouldn’t live for more than two weeks. By this time, his colon cancer had metastasized to Stage IV and had spread to both his lungs and liver. His immune system was ravaged from the effects of the chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

This patient was taught how to make the oil and was supplied with enough cuttings to make his medicine at home. According to SM, patient #1 began to feel better almost immediately. He still isn’t entirely cancer free, but two years later he is able to live a normal life and his cancer continues to improve.

“This is a true miracle,” says SM. “His doctors can’t even explain it. When he told them what he did, they said, ‘I don’t condone the treatment but I can’t argue with the results.”

Another success story is Patient #3, a co-worker, who had part of her bladder removed due to cancer. Her doctor recommended standard treatment consisting of chemotherapy and radiation “just to be sure” they got it all. She refused their treatment options and decided to use the oil instead. Her blood test results improved week by week to the point that she was told that she didn’t need to return to the clinic for 8 months for another test because her results had returned to normal. When she told her doctor of her alternative treatment, he said, “Keep it up. It’s working.”

The saddest case involved a woman who had been part of a clinical trial. Her cancer was not responding to the treatment and she was literally “melting away” in front of her concerned family and friends. Sleep was impossible and eating was a distant memory until she began using the oil.

She reports that she slept “like a rock” the very first night she tried the oil and awoke ravenous. Suddenly she was eating every couple hours when previously she couldn’t even look at food. In thirty-five days, she was cancer free.

You’d have thought her doctors would be jubilant at her recovery, but that was not the case. “They were soooo mad,” she exclaims. “They said they wasted $200,000 on me and if I wanted to cure myself, I should have done it before entering their research project. How crazy is that?” she asks.

Unfortunately for most patients, the oil is hard to come by due to the restrictions in place by the Federal government’s hard-line stand on marijuana. It’s time to put politics aside and let people chose for themselves the type of treatment they prefer. Americans for Safe Access have an excellent website for information, www.safeaccessnow.org. By clicking on the “Take Action” button, you can easily address lawmakers on a number of topics regarding medical marijuana.

Note: Many charlatans are jumping on the hash oil bandwagon, so buyer beware. Also some people are trying to cash in on Rick Simpson’s good name by using websites that are similar to his. He warns that www.phoenixtearsplus.com has no connection to him whatsoever even though they are using his name.

Latest Lab testing Results

Thank you CW Analytics for great service as always.
Edit: The reason we do not do Microbiological screening, is the oil is made using solvents at very high temperature (200 F +) which will kill any harmful pathogens.

Boy, two, with brain cancer is 'cured' after secretly being fed medical marijuana by his father

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1383240/Boy-brain-cancer-cured-secretly-fed-medical-marijuana-father.html#ixzz1LP04KYy6

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:16 PM on 4th May 2011

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A desperate father whose son was suffering from a life-threatening brain tumour has revealed he gave him cannabis oil to ease his pain. And he has now apparently made a full recovery.

Cash Hyde, known as Cashy, was a perfectly healthy baby when he was born in June 2008 but became sick shortly before his second birthday.

At first he was misdiagnosed with glandular fever before his parents Mike and Kalli, from Missoula in Montana, were given the devastating news he had a serious brain tumour.

The little boy had to have arduous chemotherapy treatment to reduce the growth, which had drastic side effects including seizures and a blood infection.

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Mike Hyde with his son Cash who was diagnosed with a severe brain tumour

Cash had to have high-dose chemotherapy which made him very ill

His distraught parents were repeatedly told he was likely to succumb to the illness because the condition was so bad.

After one bout of high-dose chemotherapy, Cash was so weak he could not lift his head and was too sick to eat any solid food for 40 days.

It was at this point that Mr Hyde decided to take action and go down the route of medical marijuana to try to help his young son.

Cash's doctors refused to even discuss the option but his father went and sought authorisation elsewhere and then secretly administered it through his son's feeding tube.

He also told doctors to stop giving Cash the cocktail of anti-nausea drugs he had been taking - although he never told them what he was doing.

Mr Hyde told KXLY News that his son started looking better right away.

Cash's father secretly gave him medical marijuana through a feeding tube

The youngster with his older brother Colty as he is treated in hospital

Mr Hyde said: 'He hadn't eaten a thing in 40 days - and, it was really incredible to watch him take a bite of a piece of cheese. It shows that he wants to live'.

He credits the cannabis oil with helping his son get through the chemo, and say Cash has now been declared cancer free by doctors.

The boy is now back and home and living the life of a typical young boy, playing with his elder brother Colty.

Medical marijuana is legal in some states, including Montana, but its use for children is poorly understood and quite rate.

The US federal government does not recognise the legality of using the drug for medical reasons and frequently clashes with states over the issue.

Mr Hyde told KXLY: 'It's very controversial, it's very scary. But, there's nothing more scary than losing your child.'

Cash is now at home and able to live like a normal little boy

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1383240/Boy-brain-cancer-cured-secretly-fed-medical-marijuana-father.html#ixzz1LP0H1bm7

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) says Cannabis has "antitumor effect"

something we here have known for a bit eh?

Federal Agency Proclaims Cannabis can treat cancer

Federal agency proclaims medical use for marijuana

By Kyle Daly | 03.24.11 | 4:08 pm

As federal battles over medical marijuana across the country heat up, a statement from one federal agency may be a huge asset for medical marijuana dispensaries that have been targeted by the various arms of the U.S. Department of Justice and the IRS.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is a division of the National Institute of Health, which is itself one of the 11 component agencies that make up the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Last week, the NCI quietly added to its treatment database a summary of marijuana’s medicinal benefits, including an acknowledgment that oncologists may recommend it to patients for medicinal use.

The summary cites clinical trials demonstrating the benefit of medical marijuana. Part of it reads:

The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal Cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect.

Although 34 states have passed laws recognizing marijuana’s medicinal properties and 15 states, plus Washington, D.C., have legalized it for medical use, this is the first time a federal agency has recognized it as medicine. Despite recent developments, Attorney General Eric Holder said in 2009 that the Justice Department would not raid medical marijuana facilities, but at no point did he acknowledge their legitimacy as distribution centers for medicine. A 2001 Supreme Court ruling, meanwhile, declared that medical use of marijuana cannot be considered in any federal court deliberating on a marijuana possession or distribution case.

The new NCI assessment could have an impact on the classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, the harshest possible drug classification, which has resulted in a prison population in which 1 in 8 prisoners in the U.S. is locked up for a marijuana-related offense. One of the principal criteria for a Schedule I determination is that there be “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.” The U.S. Justice Department may have a hard time maintaining that claim if challenged, considering a federal agency now recognizes marijuana’s medical use in cancer treatment.

From the other side of the argument comes a new white paper (PDF) from the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) censuring the prescription of marijuana by doctors in states where its medical use is legal. The ASAM takes issue with the fact that marijuana is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and therefore not subject to the same standards as other medicines. The white paper also cites as a health risk the fact that the most common method of using marijuana is smoking it.

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, believes that the ASAM paper is a direct response to the new NCI evaluation and that ASAM physicians have a vested interest in keeping marijuana illegal in all cases.

“These doctors are making a fortune off of marijuana prohibition,” he says. “They have a financial, proprietary interest to maintain the status quo.”

St. Pierre argues that addiction specialists would be losing a major revenue source if marijuana were legalized, decriminalized or simply recognized as medicine in federal court. Without the massive number of arrests and convictions based on marijuana-related offenses, there would be a sharp drop in the number of patients referred to a doctor for marijuana addiction counseling by judges.

“The NCI statement? Fascinating. The AMAS reply? Pathetic. And predictable,” says St. Pierre.

Dr. Andrea Barthwell, former president of AMAS, claimed in an AMAS press release that the white paper had its origins in a concern for doctor liability and responsibility.

“Allowing cannabis to circumvent FDA approval sets a dangerous precedent and puts us on a slippery slope,” she said.

The Feds Finally Recognize The Anti-Cancer Potential Of Cannabis — 36 Years Too Late!

March 24th, 2011 By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
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Scientific trials have for decades documented the anti-cancer properties of cannabis and its constituents. Yet it took until this week for the website of the National Institute of Cancer, a component of the U.S. government’s National Institutes of Health, to finally acknowledged the herb’s therapeutic utility for patients living with disease or suffering from the adverse side-effects of cancer treatment.

In a newly added section to the website, entitled ‘Cannabis and Cannabinoids,’ the Institute states:

Cannabinoids may cause antitumor effects by various mechanisms, including induction of cell death, inhibition of cell growth, and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Cannabinoids appear to kill tumor cells but do not affect their nontransformed counterparts and may even protect them from cell death.”

…The potential benefits of medicinal cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect.”

It’s a stunning acknowledgment, given that the NIH is a branch of the very same government that presently maintains that the cannabis plant and all of its naturally-derived components have ‘no accepted medical use.’ Yet it also begs the question: Where has the National Institute of Cancer been all these years?

After all, the anti-tumor activity of cannabinoids were initially documented in 1975! That’s right; it’s taken 36 years for the Institute to get with the program.

Hopefully it won’t take them another 36 years to demand that the Feds finally assess whether these preclinical results are replicable in human trials.

Tags: cancer, National Institute of Cancer, national institutes of health, NIH, tumors