Medical marijuana is the name of the marijuana plant that is used for a medical purpose (even though it’s used as a whole or as an extract). It was demonstrated that some substances in marijuana bring benefits in an ample range of disease. This is why FDA approved two marijuana-based products that contain cannabinoids and take the shape of a pill. These pills have as an active substance a derivate of THC or CBD that you can find in the marijuana plant. Until now, very few drugs with these active substances were approved by FDA such as Dronabinol which contains synthetic THC and it is used in various illnesses such as cancer, AIDS or Anorexia; Nabilone is another drug used for the same purposes but the active substance is similar to THC but it is man-made and Charlottes’s Web that it’s an oil with CBD that helps people with epilepsy and other types of seizures.
Epilepsy
The most popular disease that has as treatment of marijuana derivatives is Epilepsy. Epilepsy is an affection of the central nervous system which includes faints and seizures. The convulsions that appear in epilepsy don’t have a well-known cause but it was demonstrated that they appear due to a lesion of the brain and not due to an inflammatory problem. This illness will discharge a large quantity of electricity in the brain and as a result, a seizure will appear. Some of the causes will be: tumors, infections, damages of the brain or toxics but in more than a half cases the cause will remain unknown.
The convulsions may vary from person to person and they depend on the clinical signs, the length of a convulsion and the severity. Small seizures will last only a small period of time and won’t cause any brain damage. The more severe the seizure is the more lasting of the episode and the more injuries to the brain.
Epilepsy was proved to be one of the most reactive diseases to marijuana making it a natural alternative with fewer side-effects. Some epileptic patients could not tolerate the chemical treatment but have great success in keeping under control the seizures with medical marijuana. Other patients will combine the two methods of medication and the results will still be satisfying.
Other diseases that can find a remedy in marijuana:
AIDS/HIV
A study that took place on ten weed-smokers that were HIV-positive demonstrated that they would have a better life than the ones that didn’t smoke because they will eat better, sleep better and were always in a better mood. Also in another study, it was shown that the neuropathic pain appeared in fewer cases of marijuana smokers.
Alzheimer’s Disease
A recent research on Alzheimer patients showed that marijuana’s active substances were helping the invalids to gain weight, to calm them down reducing in this way the agitation that may appear in these cases. It is also thought but not yet demonstrated that THC/CBD slowed the deposition of some proteins in the brain which may be one of the reasons why Alzheimer appears.
Arthritis
It is already well-known that marijuana is one of the best anti-inflammatory remedies that nature gave us. This is why in Arthritis the patients will feel less pain and helping them sleep better.
Cancer
Until now this theory was only tested on animals or cells cultures but the results revealed that cannabis extracts may destroy cancer cells and will stop the cancer growth. On a mice experiment, it was demonstrated that the impact of radiations on cancer cells was improved when THC was used. THC and CBD will also reduce the side-effects of chemotherapy such as nausea. Sativex is a drug already legalized in Canada and some parts of Europe that is a cannabinoid that helps with cancer pain.
Chronic Pain
Cannabis is used as a pain reliever for more than two hundred years and has positive results. In a small human study, it was shown that thirty percent of the participants experienced a reduction of pain while smoking weed.
Crohn’s disease
A thirty –patient-study showed up that after three months of observation and inhaling cannabis the patients will experience less pain, the diarrheic episodes were attenuated and it could be seen a gain of weight.
Glaucoma
Blindness in people appears most often as a result of glaucoma. Researchers have tested the THC effect on the optic nerve and found out that this substance lowers the pressure of the eye and it is a good preservative of the nerve itself.
Multiple sclerosis
Using marijuana or marijuana derivatives in this kind of disease can prevent spasms of muscles, stiffness, tremors or pain even at an early stage. These things could be observed in multiple studies made on animals and a small community of human patients.
All in all, when it comes to the dear ones we have to be open-minded and even though this a controversial treatment maybe we can give it a chance for we have nothing to lose but this can only be done with a prescription of the doctor and with the recommended doses.