The comedian Tommy Chong has just announced that he has
been suffering from prostate cancer for 8 years, and that he has been treating
it with hemp and cannabis, a happy message that will unfortunately be mis-interpreted
by far too many people who will conclude, as Mr. Chong has clearly concluded,
that the hemp and cannabis is the reason he’s still alive, although the
evidence for that is less than slim.
First of all, the kind of prostate cancer Mr. Chong said
he has – he described it as a "slow Stage 1 – has a terrific prognosis,
and it’s likely that a majority of men with this kind of cancer would still be
alive at 8 years post-diagnosis even if they were treating it with only
mother’s love and chicken soup.
Second, and equally important, one person’s story should
never make a case for a more universal approach since there are so many
variables that could account for why one person has survived on a particular
therapy.
The upside of prominent people discussing their own health
status and a particular health problem is that it focuses the public’s
attention on that problem, and that means in turn, more people become
comfortable admitting that they also have that problem, which is a very good
thing.
The downside is that when those people promote a
particular therapy, even if it’s an off-the-wall therapy, a lot of people will
conclude that that’s what they need, and that road is not a good one to go
down.
