Special Medicinal Marijuana Feature: Odds are five percent I will get cancer. If I have cancer odds are fifty percent I will die from it, a statistic that would turn me into an emotional wreck.

If I had cancer I would do four things to increase my odds of survival:

1.) I would follow the allopathic therapies proposed by my medical doctor to grab the first fifty percent chances of survival. After all we benefit from over a hundred years of very expensive research to beat cancer. At one point in my life I harvested ground hemlock, an understory shrub, for the extraction of Paclitaxel, a molecule used in chemotherapy. Lots of really smart people have worked on paclitaxel since 1955.

2.) Next I would start using Indica strains of marijuana on a regular basis. Modern science is convinced that cannabinoids (the biologically active substances found in Cannabis) have antitumor properties and there is a large body of peer-reviewed scientific evidence that cannabis is useful in cancer treatment, especially as the mode of action of cannabinoids has been investigated. It seems cannabinoids stop cancer cells on their monstrous growth pattern, and kills them (more information, click here). Allow me to add however, that I would eat the marijuana rather than smoke it in order increase uptake.

But there is an even greater body of evidence of the usefulness of cannabis in cancer treatment.

While the West was preoccupied with fighting the war on drugs, medical marijuana users were breeding new strains of marijuana with unique properties. The website Medical Marijuana Strains lists eight strains of marijuana for cancer therapy (click here). The names of those strains (White Fire Kush or Blue Cheese) seem almost comical as compared to the complex names of drugs that Pharma companies coined with the help of marketing experts and focus groups. Here simplicity is the guiding principle, not market share.

Strains of cannabis are classified by genetic source. Indica and Sativa are also the commonly used terms to categorize strains of cannabis that have different effects on the user. For example, people often claim that Indica strains are sedating and good at reducing anxiety, pain, muscle spasms and tremors, among other symptoms. Cancer treatment falls under the Indica category. On the other hand Sativa strains are more energizing and good for appetite stimulation and relieving depression and migraine, among other symptoms.What I don’t know is how much marijuana I would use and for how long. This is a discussion I would have with my physician for monitoring progress and potential side effects.

3.) I would adopt a strict ketogenic diet to eliminate foods that feed the ravenous sugar-hungry cancer cells to take advantage of the Warburg effect. It is a high fat, moderate protein, very low carb protocol that stimulates the cells to feed on ketones rather than glucose. It seems that cancer cells can only feed on glucose—this may be a fundamental aspect of cancer. Therefore a ketogenic diet aims at starving the cancer cells. According to the Warburg effect most cancer cells produce their energy by a high rate of glycolysis followed by lactic acid fermentation and bypass normal cellular processes.

4.) I would travel to Cuba to take advantage of the treatment modalities that the Cuban medical system developed out of necessity because of the US embargo. More particularly I would take Vidatox a homeopathic remedy from the venom of the blue scorpion, a species that this endemic in Cuba. Once I visited Labiofam in Havana to inquire about this remedy. I met with Dr Jose Castro, the president of Labiofam. I like Vidatox.

Diagnosed with cancer I would be scared out of my wits. I’d probably also need the inspirational properties of the Sativa strains to keep going.