For those that don’t know, Rick Simpson is a man who got into cannabis completely by accident. After fate intervened, he found the benefits of medical cannabis and even made a product of his own. Rick Simpson Oil, the new product brought into existence by him, was created to work as a potential treatment for cancer. Since then, he became a major activist for the legalization of cannabis in his native Canada. In fact, his beliefs about the oil does have some basis in past studies that examined cannabis’s effect on cancer cells.

The Man

He was an engineer working in a Canadian hospital who suffered an injury and visited the emergency room. He suffered dizzy spells and ringing in the ears for years after the injury. Additionally, he found his prescription was providing little relief. In fact, it was making his symptoms worse. After watching a documentary, Simpson started looking into medical cannabis and started using it, finding an improvement in his symptoms.

When he had skin cancer, separate from his dizzy spells, he did some research about cannabis’s effect on it. In the process, he found a study that stated THC could kill cancer cells in mice. He created the oil that would eventually take his name and used it to treat his cancer topically. Believing it was the source of his cancer disappearing, Simpson became convinced of its medicinal ability. From that point, Simpson has worked to advocate its medicinal use and offer it for anyone that needed it.

The Oil

Consumers can use the oil as a tincture, dab, or cooking ingredient. In addition to potentially treating cancer, the oil’s creator also reported that Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) can treat other ailments, like arthritis, asthma, inflammation, depression, and insomnia. Anyone interested in it could find the recipes for it online.

Potential Treatment

The fact that consumers can use RSO as a potential treatment for cancer shows that researchers need to continue examining the benefits of cannabis. Even if it cannot meet its creator’s claims to treat cancer, the fact that people could use it to treat other ailments cannot be understated.

Hopefully, as cannabis becomes more available, the researchers will be able to definitively prove its benefits.

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