Cannabis and Testicular Cancer

Last week there was a report out of the University Of Southern California that there is a near doubling of the risk of testicular cancer in young men who consume cannabis.

After reviewing the article:

1. The study group was way, way too small. How can you have a control group of less 150 men
for a study like this, when the incidence of Testicular Cancer is 0.4% or 1 in 280! In my opinion, this
alone makes the report useless.
2. In the report, it is reported that the higher dose users of cannabis did NOT have an increased
incidence of Testicular Cancer. This just makes no sense at all.
3. The lead scientist of the study openly states that their selection bias might have been a
problem. This will turn out to be the real problem with this study.
4. This study was a simple retrospective or “survey” study. This type of study CANNOT EVER BE
USED TO TRY PROVE CAUSE AND EFFECT. Ultimately, the only studies that can show cause and
effect are prospective controlled studies. There are potentially 10 other differences in the
two cohort groups they studied. With a study in young males there are many issues that must
be controlled for.
5. “The people who had been diagnosed with Testicular Cancer were less likely than controls to
report religious affiliation.” This is a direct quote, so maybe the church activities are
to blame for the presumed Cancer increase.
6. Another downplayed but intriguing finding was that cocaine “protected” against Testicular
cancer. This seems as unlikely as Cannabis Causing this cancer.
7. Heavy users actually had a reduced likelihood of developing testicular cancer.
8. Thousands of good scientific articles are now flooding the world with good evidence that both
CBD and THC kill cancer cells.

I am going to need SOME study that shows that cannabis causes Testicular Cancer. The study will have to be much better than poorly controlled survey type retrospective studies.

Finally, it might certainly be my own bias, but I just get the feeling these articles were all politically and media driven. The science is virtually non-existant. If I had Testicular Cancer, I would take CBD + THC in as large a dose I could tolerate, which would probably be a lot.

Author

Allan Frankel, MD Dr Allan Frankel is one of the few physicians in the US who truly understands Cannabis as a medicine. All treatments suggested have been well studied. Every patient seen by Dr Frankel is given a personally created Treatment Plan created with the patient's specific issues defined. Plant medicine requires "tuning" of the dosing. Dr Frankel works with his patients thru a messaging portal. The use of this portal, allows quick and simple follow up contact with Dr Frankel. Patients are not charged for these messages, as this is how Dr Frankel has learned what he has learned. Follow up appointments in person or by phone/video are also available when needed