CANCER
Skin
OF THE
BY MATT JACKSON, PH.D.
Our bodies have cozied into this Earth, perfectly suited to thrive through the seasons. Nevertheless, our environment is harsh. Even those with the healthiest lifestyles confront toxins in the air we breathe—and the sun, our source of warmth, bombards us with UV rays that can damage DNA and mutate our skin. These mutations are like a roulette wheel. The universe casts a ball of UV rays, and the ball bounces its way to an outcome. If it lands on red, our skin cells repair and live. If it lands on black, they die, and healthy cells take their place. But every so often, it lands on green, and the mutated cells don’t repair or die. They divide like a virus, clearing out normal tissue, feeding on the nutrients, and forming a cancerous, malignant tumor.
THERE IS SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT CANNABIS CAN FIGHT SKIN CANCER 58
If you find that prospect terrifying, you’re not alone. No one likes to be out of control, but thankfully, it’s not a perfect metaphor. As long as you’re not using a tanning bed—if you are, please stop!—an occasional day without sunscreen or one sunburn rarely causes melanoma, the tumors most associated with skin cancer.
Why? To form cancer, mutated cells must do two things: they must grow rapidly, and they must escape our body’s internal security measure of programmed cell death. Biologically, that’s not like a roulette wheel, where 1 in 37 slots are green. It’s more like being struck by lightning in your lifetime, which happens to 1 person in 3,000.1 The likelihood you develop skin cancer depends on many factors, like how consistently your skin
