The first laboratory studies showing that cannabis could be a potential cancer treatment took place in 1973 and the results subsequently published the following year, but further research was blocked and the results dismissed. Why? Because for decades, the public had been told that the cannabis plant was Public Enemy Number One, and it was about to be officially listed on Schedule 1, a category of drugs that are deemed as without medicinal benefits and the most dangerous. 

According to the authorities back then, cannabis was a dangerous and addictive drug that was as bad, if not worse, than heroin, in that it provoked violence, caused antisocial, even promiscuous behaviour, and killed its users, So the last thing our governments wanted to hear was that it had the potential to treat cancer. Therefore, the results were ignored, and cannabis was subsequently chosen to play the leading role in the doomed ‘War of Drugs’ that followed – ‘doomed’ because not only has the war failed, but they also chose to demonise the wrong plant! 

Scientific evidence shows beyond any doubt that cannabis is a healing plant that is able to treat or bring relief to most (if not all) health conditions. Despite this, cannabis remains listed on Schedule 1, which makes it extremely difficult for researchers to study cannabis and, most importantly, for clinical trials to take place. While in Britain, the authorities continue repeating the notion of cannabis being addictive and dangerous, when nothing could be further from the truth!

Many people will have read or listened to reports on social media, blogs, podcasts, and other internet platforms, from cancer patients claiming success when using THC-rich cannabis oil to treat their cancer (if you haven’t, then please explore the few examples of these accounts in the sidebar, or find more information HERE). I am one of these people. And like thousands (millions globally) of other cancer patients using the same treatment, I am cancer free.

These claims, which first appeared around 2004, grew rapidly in the years that followed due to more and more people reporting successful outcomes. Today, the number of people reporting successful results in treating cancer with THC-rich forms of cannabis oil is growing at such a phenomenal rate that attempts to discredit the reports as fake news abound, along with an ongoing campaign to suppress, refute, and/or discredit the message (and sometimes the messenger). Yet still, the stories keep coming.. why? Because science, while not tested in the way medicine laws demand, backs up these claims (more info HERE), and so more and more UK citizens are using THC-rich forms of cannabis oil, despite it being illegal.

The majority of cancer patients making these claims do not belong to some pro-cannabis group or organisation interested in legalising or decriminalising cannabis per se;  they are just members of the public; ordinary people, like you and me. Most of them have no history of cannabis use, and most were once opposed to cannabis use because they, like the majority of people, believed what the authorities were (and still are) telling them: that cannabis use is dangerous and addictive. And then they found out they had cancer.

Introducing ‘Nanny Pumpkin’

I am a mature woman, known to my grandchildren as Nanny Pumpkin (it’s all about the hair!), who was diagnosed with one of the more nastier, aggressive types of breast cancer in June 2019. Most breast cancers are caused by a hormonal imbalance, but mine was due to abnormal protein levels that indicated one of two breast cancers (neither good): HR2- (triple negative) or triple positive (HR2+). After several tests and a long wait (due to unclear results), I was finally diagnosed with Stage III advanced HR2+ breast cancer, present in my left breast, left armpit, and lymph nodes. I was offered surgery to remove my left breast and ten lymph nodes, as well as a year of chemotherapy/targeted treatment. I subsequently discovered that HR2+ breast cancer, which is diagnosed in around 1 in 5 breast cancers, tends to be more aggressive than other types of breast cancer, and still has a poor prognosis (albeit better) despite the recent development of targeted treatments/chemotherapy. It looked as though I had a very tough road ahead.

Unlike Nanny Pumpkin, who was a bit of a wild child, the majority of people using cannabis for medicinal purposes never used cannabis prior to their diagnosis, and many were actually opposed to cannabis use. Cancer patients, including me, are using a THC-rich form of cannabis oil (often known as Rick Simpson Oil or RSO), because this is the oil fabricated by Rick Simpson to treat his skin cancer, successfully, and it what was/is used by many scientists in their studies. 

Contrary to what the UK gov/pharmaceuticals claim, and until very recently, ALL of the cannabis used in scientific research was acquired via police seizures – so what the UK government and pharmaceutical industry  likes to vilify as ‘street’ cannabis, while simultaneously claiming that their legally grown cannabis is purer because it has been standardised. This notion is utter nonsense. Cannabis is a plant, nothing more, and fairly easy to grow, which means that if it was legal, just about anyone could grow it and make their own medicine. As such, the legalisation of cannabis in any form is a major threat to the pharmaceuticals and medical cannabis industry, and that is the real reason it remains illegal in the UK.

Many people using cannabis for medicinal purposes are growing and making their own medicine (see video showing how in the sidebar), but I buy mine from a lovely, elderly gentleman, who began making the oil around 5 years ago after being diagnosed with cancer of the colon. My ‘lovely gentleman’ had very strong anti-cannabis views prior to his diagnosis, but after being told about RSO by his son, who helped him make the oil, he also refused all conventional treatment. Following his successful treatment, this dad and son team continued making the oil, selling it for a very reasonable price to other cancer patients (it costs me less than a packet of cigarettes per week), and risking up to 14 years in prison. Everyone in our growing community, including me, are cancer free, despite us all having different cancers at different stages.  

Healing with Cannabis is NOT aimed at decriminalising or legalising cannabis as such, but about informing the British public and therefore bringing about authentic medical cannabis reform. The so-called cannabis ‘reform’ that took place in 2018, did nothing for the 1.4 million (gov. estimate) people currently using medical cannabis illegally, but everything for marketing cannabis medicines produced by the pharmaceuticals. Indeed, the UK has been the world’s largest exporter of medical cannabis since 2017, and yet its citizens are denied access and cannabis use remains illegal. That needs to change.

THC-rich forms of cannabis oil does for cancer what aspirin does for the heart – it gives the person their life back, without the side effects caused by chemotherapy and other conventional treatments, and it extends their life, giving them a quality of life that feels normal. If I’m going to die soon, I would prefer to live what time I have left in the best health possible, and able to spend quality time with my family and friends. It is one of the reasons I decided to refuse conventional treatments and take RSO. 

I fully understood the risks when making that decision and still do; after all, we are talking about cancer, so I have no guarantees. Nevertheless, I have been living a full and healthy life since beginning the oil. My sickly, grey pallor disappeared, I regained the weight I’d lost, and my energy has returned. Although it is too early to perhaps of THC-rich cannabis oils such as RSO being a treatment/cure for cancer, let me just say that am I just one of millions of people worldwide still alive without having had chemotherapy.

The British Government, in indeed any government, has no right to withhold cannabis medicine from the British people. Some 40+ countries have now legalised medical cannabis and, unlike the UK authorities, the licensing of cannabis has generally been shaped around herbal medicines. Why? Because that it what cannabis medicine is – herbal medicine; after all cannabis is a plant! Nothing more. And that plant has a 100% safety record that encompasses thousands and thousands of years – no deaths, no overdoses – and millions of people abroad are now growing their own medicine very successfully.

This website is therefore aimed at informing people about the potential of cannabis as medicine through articles, news items, current research, UK government reports, and by reporting what is happening abroad. Our aim? To bring about authentic cannabis reform in the U.K.