Friend of mine who has smoked marijuana for years, asked me today if smoking marijuana could be related to the cancer he had, which has now come back twice. He’s only 35 and he has smoked marijuana for a good portion of his life. I explained to him that the THC is a painkiller and that all pain killers (regardless if alcohol, Tylenol, tobacco, caffeine etc) gain their pain killing effect by shutting down the nervous system. No nervous system, no pain……..but if you don’t have a nervous system, you also don’t have an immune system because the nervous system is the immune system. This is why smoking marijuana is associated with increased cancer growth and spread…….as is alcohol, nicotine, coffee and prescription/over the counter pain killers. For our immune systems to find “cancer” and deal with it effectively, it needs to keep its’ radar on at all times……..and all pain killers shut down our defenses by dulling our nervous system communications. This makes sure the cancer cells get under the radar and deep into our bodies.