Dedicated to the memory of SENATOR HUBERT H. HUMPHREY

	A Price Guide For Antique Cannabis Medicines THE ANTIQUE CANNABIS BOOK

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF SENATOR / VICE-PRESIDENT
HUBERT H. HUMPHREY

BEFORE CHEMO-THERAPY

SIX MONTHS INTO CHEMO-THERAPY

THE EFFECTS OF CHEMOTHERAPY ON THE HUMAN BODY

While these pictures were taken many years apart, they accurately depict the appearance of the late vice president just before being diagnosed with Cancer (left) and six months into his chemotherapy treatment.

Could Hubert Humphery's life have been saved by Cannabis? No one is claiming that Cannabis can directly cure cancer.^[1] Only that it counter-acts the wasting away affects of chemotherapy and therefore increases the chances of surviving cancer. In this author's mind, it's a no-brainer to figure out that someone with a healthy look about them has a higher chance of surviving cancer, as opposed to a walking skeleton.

MEDICAL MARIHUANA SAVES LIVES
FIGHT CANCER NOT CANCER VICTIMS:

10,000 Pre-Mature or NEEDLESS Cancer Deaths:
I realize that to some, the subject of Medical Marihuana (like cancer) is not a comfortable or popular subject. But it is important to realize that thousands of Cancer victims are dying needlessly each and every year, simply because of a lack of basic access to Medical Marihuana. Just How many, this author puts the calculated figure at 10,000 --- each and every year.

And to clarify matters, by Needless Cancer Deaths, we are NOT NOW talking about some hot-shot Narc breaking down a door and shooting dead some 6-yr-old who was playing on the ground with a cap-gun. (And oops, it turned out that they had just raided the wrong address etc.) Nor are we talking about some cancer patient who, "can't take the Pain" anymore and commits suicide etc. Yes, yes --- these deaths do count AND should be tabulated, but here we deal SOLELY, with actual needless MEDICAL DEATHS and then ONLY those related to Cancer.

Just how bad is Chemotherapy? Here are some Ugly facts that the Narc's DON'T want you to know:

According to literature put out by the federal government's own NCI (National Cancer Institute), as many as 20% of those that died did, NOT DIE OF CANCER BUT from the weakening effects of chemotherapy and/or massive weight loss ^[2]. The study being quoted even created a new fangled word for starvation. I myself found this hard to believe, [and here I can only hope and pray that this is not true] 20%, of all cancer victims are actually starving to death.
According to the American Cancer Society, the NCI (National Cancer Institute), and numerous other anti-Cancer organizations: The average chemotherapy patient will lose between 5% to 20% of their body weight. But while 10% seems to be the average, some patients loose no weight or even gain weight during this time (lucky them), while others can loose over 60% of their body weight. -- Example, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, was said to have lost approximately 50% of his body weight within the first 6 months of his chemotherapy. ^[3]
Cancer therapies [meaning chemotherapy-of and by itself] . . . can also greatly contribute to progressive nutritional deterioration. The therapy may have a direct effect, [on body fat absorption and] indirect effects, such as increases in metabolic (there is an increased caloric need of approximately 10%-13% per degree above 37 degrees Celsius). ^[4]
The effects of Chemotherapy are so bad, that according to one study published in the Dec. 15, 2003 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Oncology," --- Of 20,000 women (cancer victims) surveyed ----only half of them actually got the full chemotherapy treatment medical called for. Reasons given---the weakening effects of the chemotherapy itself made the women so sick that the treatment had to be reduced or stopped. The study also points out that the "odds of curing breast cancer are highest when patients complete a full course of chemotherapy." That's right 20%, and I see no reason, why this figure shouldn't apply to men as well. ^[5]
Not only is Medical Marihuana the best medically proven (and least expensive) anti-chemotherapy agent available, in many cases there are no effective alternatives. Marihuana works in many cases where other (so-called "Alternatives to Medical Marihuana") don't work and even in those cases where alternative drugs do have some effect, Medical Marihuana still shows superior medical performance. ^[6]

AND HERE ARE SOME EVEN UGLIER FACTS:

According the United States Federal Government, more than one out of every four Americans dies of cancer. That's right, one out of ever four deaths in America is a cancer related death. ^[7]
According to the American Cancer Society, despite the fact that there is a 50% recovery rate, Cancer kills one out of every four Americans. Statistically speaking this means between 550,000 (those that died) and 1,100,000 (those affected by anti-Cancer therapy).

And many of them were needless -- Just because of lack of basic access to Medical Marihuana. I personally put the estimate at 10,000 needless or premature Cancer deaths. A figure that is based on probability statistics and therefore subject to challenges, But a figure that no one (with reasonable access to Cancer statistics) has been able to disprove.

And here, it cannot be said enough that unfortunately due to various factors, mostly dealing with the present-day legal status of Medical Cannabis. Almost ALL mathematical statistics are at best, nothing more than guesswork.

But instead of arguing which figure is right and which is wrong, I invite the reader to look over my own figures and (what is that expression) "Do The MATH" themselves. Maybe it will be ten-thousand, maybe it will be more --- Again, while the exact figure(s) are subject to challenge, what is not challengeable are the observable facts or premises behind the statistic.

Condensed Summary:
[1] According to the American Cancer Society, despite the fact that there is a 50% recovery rate, Cancer kills one out of every four Americans. This allows us to start with a statistical base of between 550,000 (those that died) and 1,100,000 (those affected by anti-Cancer therapy).

[2] According to literature put out by the federal government's own NCI (National Cancer Institute), as many as 20% of those that died, did NOT die of Cancer BUT from the weakening effects of chemotherapy and/or massive weight loss.

[3] Medical Marihuana can do does combat the weakening effects of chemotherapy.

[4] Medical Marihuana is both Sate and Effective. AND in many cases Medical Marihuana has been shown to be superior in performance to other anti-chemotherapy agents.

[5] Medical Marihuana therefore can increase a Cancer Victims probability factor of surviving cancer.

[6] Statistically speaking, I have personally estimated about 10,000 needless or premature cancer deaths.

[7] For some Medical Marihuana will increase a Cancer Victims body strength enough to lead to a full recovery. For others Medical Marihuana will only prolong life (for some unit of time).

[8] That the Moral issues of who gets to make that deciding (the Patient, the Doctor, or some Police Agent in Washington) need to be addressed.

DOCUMENTATION:

THE PROBLEM WITH STATISTICS: Due to the present-day legal status of Cannabis, not to mention outright censorship of medical studies on the subject, numerous data gathering methods, are at best nothing more than technical estimates . . . [MORE]

THE MATH - 10,000 NEEDLESS CANCER DEATHS: How exactly was this figure calculated? I invite the reader to look over the math and its method of calculation and . . . [MORE]

CANCER STUDIES AND CANNABIS: Although it is effectively against the law to do medical studies on Cannabis, this was not always the case . . . [MORE]

WHAT ABOUT MARINOL? Technically speaking, isn't Marinol the same as Medical Cannabis, only in a synthetic form . . . [MORE]

SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE: " How MUCH MORE effective is Medical Cannabis (as oppose to other medical anti-nausea agents), in combating the weakening effects of Chemo-therapy? . . . [MORE]

IS MEDICAL CANNABIS SAFE? Show me the bodies ---- Ok, maybe I'm being a little flippant about the matter, but still I am sure [especially given our ever vigilant law enforcement community] that if their were any deaths resulting from the use of Medical Cannabis, that the CDC will surely have some kind of list or keep data to that effect. But to this day, not one single death has ever been . . . [MORE]

CREDITS:
- Photos of Hubert Humphery, courtesy of the Hubert Humphery Historical library.
- Vomit drawing by Matt Pittaway

FOOTNOTES:
[1]-- While this author subscribes to this statement, there are scientific studies that do show that Cannabis Of-And-Of itself, does have cancer fighting properties.
[2]-- Found in N.C.I document: "Nci_u6%7E1.txt" --- If anyone needs a copy let us know, we'll try to e-mail it to you.
[3]-- Did Hubert Humphrey loose over 50% of his body weight to chemotherapy?
Any time someone asks me to give them the name of just one person whose life might have been saved by Medical Cannabis, without hesitation I've always replied; Hubert Horatio Humphrey - former vice president of the United States.

Thus it was a humanitarian and NOT a ghoulish interest has led this author to spend some time specifically trying to tract down the exact amount of body mass lost by Mr. Humphrey due to the effects of chemotherapy. But without having specific access to his medical records, I have found the task almost impossible. Certainly the pictures taken of him just before and 6 months into his chemotherapy seem to bear out the truth to this. According to one of his biographers:

"The fortnightly chemotherapy bouts in New York hit Humphrey hard; 'Worse than the X rays,' he told friends. His hair fell out. He wrote Eugenie Anderson: "The treatments make me feel lousy for 4 or 5 days. That interferes with my appetite, and causes me to lose weight. Just about the time I've regained that weight, I take another treatment. It's kind of a roller-coaster." ---HUBERT HUMPHREY (a Biography) by Carl Solberg p454

So we know that he was fully aware of what was happening to him. Specifically, according to another biographer who in addition to being a medical doctor was also a personal close friend of his:

"He was always finicky about his clothes, and now he wanted to be sure he . . [wore] . . only his newer suits. He had lost some fifty pounds in the past year, and he was determined not to appear sick, with his old suits hanging on his less than robust figure. He had lost none of his pride and would not appear a dying man before the press." -- "HUBERT - The Triumph and Tragedy of the Humphrey I knew," by Edgar Berman p14

It can also be assumed that as the months and his chemotherapy treatments went on, that he would loose yet more of his body mass. Body mass that (I feel) he would NOT had lost had he made use of Medical Cannabis. But maybe we are making to much of numbers, and not enough of the actual tragedy. As Edgar Berman (again not just a physician, but also a very close personal friend), wrote:

"Thought valorous, his dying was painful to watch. A few days after the first of the year, 1978, during one of his calls from Waverly, while talking about something inconsequential, Humphrey sounded unusually short of breath. Alerted by this, I called his family doctor in nearby buffalo, Minnesota, who saw him every day. He verified what I suspected, Hubert was beginning to develop fluid in his lungs. . . . . It was January 4. As soon as I arrived at the house, Muriel warned me about Hubert's worsening condition. I went into his bedroom. He had deteriorated rapidly; his once ruddy-complexioned cheekbones and high forehead now were gaunt, taut-skinned, and waxy. I hugged that emaciated body, and he sort of held on as if to stave off an imminent parting. . . . Humphrey roused himself and gave me a weak smile, . . . We had to move slowly because every step wracked him with pain, every movement of a joint seemed to stab into him. He was still insisting on no narcotics. He was still determined to keep a clear head in case the president or Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd called. -- "HUBERT - The Triumph and Tragedy of The Humphrey I knew," by Edgar Berman MD p280

NOTE: -- In his own words, Humphrey was a public man, during his life-time, he introduced legislation and worked with the medical profession (of which he was a part) to find a cure for this disease. Today, a complete cancer medical research in his home state of Minnesota has been named after him. I am reasonably sure that he would not mine us using his photo's, in fact (in spirit) I feel that somewhere, someplace, he is jumping up and down, cheering us on. In this own words:

"Don't forget---not a tear . . [When one thinks of me] I want one hell of a celebration" -- H.H.H.

[4]-- THE FOLLOWING IS A DIRECT QUOTATION: Cancer therapies [meaning chemotherapy-of and by itself] and their side effects can also greatly contribute to progressive nutritional deterioration. The therapy may have a direct effect, such as protein and fat malabsorption after a gastrectomy or pancreatectomy, or indirect effects, such as increases in metabolic demands caused by infection or a neutropenic febrile reaction (there is an increased caloric need of approximately 10%-13% per degree above 37 degrees Celsius). Nutritional problems can be induced by each general type of antineoplastic therapy. The nutritional literature has defined severe malnutrition in two ways: functionally (increased risk of morbidity and/or mortality) and by degree of weight loss (greater than 2% per week, 5% per month, 7.5% per 3 months, and 10% per 6 months). In the cooperative group format, nutrition toxicity does not generally take into account baseline deficit and includes degrees of weight loss that are much greater than the above criteria. Grading (without consideration of time course) is as follows: grade 0 = less than 5.0% loss, grade 1 = 5.0%-9.9%, grade 2 = 10.0%-19.9%, grade 3 = greater than 20.0%. Grade 4 (life-threatening) is not specifically defined. Attention to weight loss at an earlier time point is required to successfully prevent deterioration of weight, body composition, and performance status.
[5]-- "Condense and Predictors of Low Dose-Intensity in Adjuvant Breast Cancer Chemotherapy: A Nationwide Study of Community Practices" - Gary H. Lyman, David C. Dale, Jeffrey Crawford JCO Dec 15 2003: 4524-4531 - Journal of Clinical Oncology [Note: With no offence to anyone, the article itself reads like PHD Gabble-Goop, a good summery of it however can be found at the Dr Koop.com website - "Study Finds Women With Breast Cancer Don't Get Enough Chemo"].
[6]-- Figure was tabulated by the author and is based on old Cannabis/Cancer studies [MORE] as well as Medical Journal articles that date from the 1830's to the mid 20th Century.
[7]- The figure is generated from ongoing counts or county morgue death certificates. However, I for one have my doubts. Take a look at [John Baca's Death Certificate], I deify anyone to tell me what he actually died of. The problem is that Doctors (who fill out the paper work) have a tendency of keeping things short, too short and not putting down ALL the conditions that actually led to the death, only the actual (last minute) cause. Thus, many cancer deaths are written up as "Respiratory Failures," etc. In other words, the figure is tabulated from death certificates, but a lot of guess work goes into it.

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