EUR This N That | Urban Black News Blog

Scientists and researchers are baffled when it comes to the active chemical in marijuana called THC.  The drug has long been illegal because the specific effects that the chemical has on the human body are still a mystery.  Recently, only some elements have been detected and researched to learn more and more about the unpredictable risks associated with the drug.

A team of researchers at the University of Southern California interviewed more than 350 men, 163 of whom had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, about recreational drug use including: poppers, mushrooms, Quaaludes, PCP, barbiturates and speed. The outcome was that marijuana was likely the culprit behind the testicular cancer, but they couldn’t figure out how the marijuana propelled the cancer cells into the testicles, according to the Huffington Post.

Victoria Cortessis, lead author and assistant professor of preventive medicine at USC’s Keck School of Medicine said that “testicular cancers are the most common forms of cancer in adolescent and adult men between the ages of 15 and 45.”  But another surprising outcome of the results found that cancer was constricted by cocaine and moved away from the affected area.  One researcher proposed that since cocaine shrinks the veins that they may be squeezing the blood out of the body into the testicles.

“This isn’t the first time that this information has come out,” Michael Craycraft,  testicular cancer survivor and founder of the Testicular Cancer Society, a support and advocacy group for men and boys diagnosed with the disease.

Read more here.

-J.C. Brooks