FIGHTING CANCER WITH CANNABIS
“I and others have shown cannabinoids like CBD and THC can affect cell-signaling pathways that are often dysfunctional in cancer cells. By doing so, they can restore the capacity for these cancer cells to undergo death.”
-Dr. Wai Lui
As the rest of the country is slowly but surely emerging from lockdown, Tracy and Joshua Ryan are staying indoors where it’s safe. Their eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, isn’t old enough to get her coronavirus vaccine. On top of that, she’s also recovering from brain surgery. This invasive and dangerous procedure—her third so far—marks the latest battle in an unending war against the brain tumor that Sophie was diagnosed with mere months after she was born.
The cancer, optic nerve glioma, has an 85 percent recurrence rate. After finishing her last dose of chemo in the fall of 2019, Sophie’s tumor remained under control for most of the pandemic. Now, with both a heavy heart and stoic resolve, Tracy told High Times it’s growing again. Whether the surgery had something to do with it, she doesn’t say. As the mother of a child with cancer, she knows all too well that questions like these never have clear answers.
After spending up to seven years visiting the oncology wards of some of the country’s best hospitals, Sophie’s family has finally exhausted every type of
