See also: Biochemist Dennis Hill, who cured his stage 4 prostate cancer with Cannabis Oil, explains how it works
This brief survey touches lightly on a few essential concepts. Mostly I would like to leave you with an appreciation that nature has designed the perfect medicine that fits exactly with our own immune system of receptors and signaling metabolites to provide rapid and complete immune response for systemic integrity and metabolic homeostasis.
~Dennis Hill
How It Works (Abstract)
There is a plentiful supply of research articles and personal testaments that show the efficacy of cannabis effecting cancer remission. However, only a few point to the mechanism by which the cancer cells die. To understand this better we need to know what metabolic processes provide life to the cells.
There are two structures in most cells that sustains life; one is the mitochondria, and the other is the endoplasmic reticulum. The mitochondria primarily produces adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that provides the necessary energy. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a loosely bound envelope around the cell nucleus that synthesizes metabolites and proteins directed by the nuclear DNA that nourish and sustain the cell.
Let us look first at tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and observe that THC is a natural fit for the CB1 cannabinoid receptor on the cancer cell surface. When THC hits the receptor, the cell generates ceramide that disrupts the mitochondria, closing off energy for the cell.
Disruption of the mitochondria releases cytochrome c and reactive oxygen species into the cytosol, hastening cell death. It is notable that this process is specific to cancer cells. Healthy cells have no reaction to THC at the CB1 receptor. The increase in ceramide also disrupts calcium metabolism in the mitochondria, completing the demise to cell death.
The other cannabinoid we know is effective in killing cancer cells is cannabidiol (CBD). The primary job of CBD in the cancer cell is to disrupt the endoplasmic reticulum through wrecking of the calcium metabolism, pushing calcium into the cytosol. This always results in cell death. Another pathway for CBD to effect cancer cell death is the Caspase Cascade, which breaks down proteins and peptides in the cell. When this happens the cell cannot survive. Again, these processes are specific to cancer cells, no normal cells are affected.
In 
If you are still wondering whether humans were intended to enjoy and benefit from marijuana’s main psychoactive ingredient, THC, pick up a copy of Michael Pollan’s bestseller “The Botany of Desire.” Pollan, a contributor to The New York Times, should be required reading for anyone weighing the pros and cons of marijuana’s booming new acceptance, both as a medicine and perhaps further down the line as a recreational drug. I stumbled across it while researching my own book on medical marijuana, and this is one of the best I’ve found explaining the drug’s affect on the human brain. Most fascinating to me is the revelation that the brain is pre-wired to accept cannabinoids, the active ingredients in cannabis of which THC is one. Just as the brain has receptor cells for endorphins, serotonin and other chemical compounds, so too are there cells specially designed to pair with cannabinoids to unlock certain mental functions.
Patients for Medical Cannabis 