Medical Marijuana which is also referred as medical cannabis is gaining popularity by being disputed and argued by a lot of medical organizations, legislators and the public itself. There are a lot of questions and concerns raised. Will marijuana alleviate health problems? Will it be safe to use on medical conditions? Is it the new age medical wonder?
All these controversies prompted marijuana advocates to research and dig in deeper on its properties that is less known of. The cannabis plant has a history of being used as a medicine which dates back to 2,737 BC. And true enough researches show that there are substantial evidences which prove marijuana does have medical significance.
Uses of Medical Marijuana
Research on medical marijuana shows a promising result on its use to cure and treat some types of diseases. Cannabis plants contains abundant substances of THC and the cannabidiol which are cannabinoids. These substances were studied and proved to be effective in some medical conditions when administered. However, the response of some patients vary. Cannabinoids was scientifically proven to have a therapeutic value mainly for pain management, managing vomiting and nausea, and stimulation of appetite.
Studies show that it can also treat insomnia, asthma, glaucoma, movement disorders, migraines, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease. It acts as an antispasmodic and muscle relaxant which ease spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis.
Other Benefits of Medical Marijuana
There are other benefits of medical marijuana. Recent studies show that the THC substance in the cannabis plants slows down the growth of the enzyme that aides the formation of Alzheimer plaques inside the brain. Thus, it impedes the development of Alzheimer’s disease. It also helped on HIV/AIDS wasting. When combined with the patient’s prescribed pain management regimen it proved to alleviate significantly the nureopathic pain.
The substance cannabidol on the other hand was found to be substantial in cancer treatment. It was proven that it hinders the expansion of the breast cancer cells or metastasis throughout the body by blocking the activity of the ID-1 gene. It is also regarded as an alternative to chemotherapy which is non-toxic and can deliver the same results without the pain and unwanted side effects. The substance cannabinoids (present in the cannabis plant) also showed that it was able to promote death amongst brain cancer cells by autophagy. It means that the cancer cells feed on themselves rather than it feeds on the healthy cells. The test results showed that tumor shrank and eliminated cancer cells while leaving the healthy cells undamaged.





