Medical
uses of marijuana include both studied and approved uses and off-label uses. In
a recent research survey, the most common reasons people use medical marijuana
are for
·
pain,
·
anxiety,
·
depression,
·
muscle
spasticity, and
·
inflammatory
bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease.
More
research has been conducted on the compound CBD. Medical CBD is
anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, antioxidant, neuroprotective, and
anxiolytic, antipsychotic, and anti-emetic. The CBD compound in medical
marijuana appears to be neuroprotective in Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, and
Alzheimer’s disease, fetal hypoxia, and other neurodegenerative conditions and
movement disorders.
1.
MMJ
CAN SLOW AND STOP CANCER CELLS FROM SPREADING:
It was found
in the study, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, that
Cannabidiol has the ability to stop cancer by turning off a gene called Id-1.
In 2007, researchers at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reported
that CBD may prevent cancer from spreading. The researchers experimented on
breast cancer cells in the lab that had a high level of Id-1 and treated them
with cannabidiol.
The outcome was rather
positive, the cells had decreased Id-1 expression, and were less aggressive
spreaders. In fact, the American Association for Cancer Research has found that
marijuana actually works to slow down tumor growth in the brain, breast, and
lungs considerately.
Chronic Pain is one of
the most common ailments for which doctors prescribe medical marijuana and a
recent survey published in The Spine Journal found that 1 out of 5 patients at
a Colorado spine center were using cannabis to manage their pain. Of those,
nearly 90% said it greatly or moderately relieved their pain.
The spine clinic study
was merely a survey, which means more research will be necessary for the
potential role of cannabis in treating back pain. With that said, plenty of
people will tell you it helps manage pain and science is beginning to back
their claims. Studies suggest medical marijuana could offer relief for various
types of pain, including the following:
·
Chronic pain and
cannabis
·
Neuropathic pain and
cannabis
3. PREVENT ALZHEIMER’S
WITH THE PROPER DOSE OF MMJ:
THC, the active
ingredient present in marijuana slows the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, a
2006 study led by Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute found out. THC
slows the formation of amyloid plaques by blocking the enzyme in the brain that
makes them. These plaques kill the brain cells and potentially lead to
Alzheimer’s disease.
4. MEDICAL CANNABIS HAS
BEEN USED TO TREAT GLAUCOMA:
Marijuana can be used
to treat glaucoma, which increases the pressure in the eyeball, injuring the
optic nerve and causing loss of vision. According to the National Eye
Institute, marijuana lowers the pressure inside the eye.
“Studies in the early
1970s showed that marijuana, when smoked, lowered intraocular pressure (IOP) in
people with normal pressure and those with glaucoma.”
These effects of the
drug can prevent blindness.
5. RELIEVE ARTHRITIS:
In 2011, researchers
reported that cannabis reduces pain and inflammation, and promotes sleep, which
may help relieve pain and discomfort for people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Researchers of the
rheumatology units at several hospitals gave their patients Sativex, a
cannabinoid-based pain-relieving medicine. After two weeks, patients on Sativex
had a significant reduction in pain and improved better sleep quality compared
to placebo users.
6. SOOTHE TREMORS FOR PEOPLE
WITH PARKINSON’S DISEASE:
Recent studies from
Israel shows that smoking marijuana remarkably reduces pains and tremors and
improves sleep for Parkinson’s disease patients. What was impressive about the
research was the improvement of fine motor skills among patients.
Israel has made
medical marijuana legal, and a lot of research into the medical uses of weed is
done there, supported by the Israeli Government.
7. HELP WITH CROHN’S
DISEASE:
Cannabis may be
helpful with curing Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel
disorder that causes pain, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and more.
But a recent study in
Israel showed that smoking a joint considerably reduced Crohn’s disease
symptoms in 10 out of 11 patients, and caused a complete cancellation of the
disease in five of those patients.
Of course, this is a
small study, but other researches have shown similar results. The cannabinoids
from cannabis seem to help the gut control bacteria and intestinal function.
8. DECREASE THE
SYMPTOMS OF DRAVET’S SYNDROME:
Dravet Syndrome causes
seizures and severe developmental delays. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the renowned chief
medical correspondent for CNN, is treating a five years old girl, Charlotte
Figi, who has Dravet’s Syndrome, with medical marijuana strain high in
cannabidiol and low in THC.
During the research
for his documentary “WEED”, Gupta interviewed the Figi family, and according to
the film, the drug decreased her seizures from 300 a week to just once every
seven days. Forty other children are using the same medication, and it has
helped them too.
The doctors who are
recommending this medication say that the cannabidiol in the plant interacts
with the brain cells to quiet the excessive activities in the brain that causes
the seizures.
9. LESSEN SIDE EFFECTS
FROM TREATING HEPATITIS C, AND INCREASE TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS:
Treating Hepatitis C
infection has severe side effects, so severe that many people are unable to
continue their treatment. Side effects range from fatigue, nausea, muscle
pains, loss of appetite, and depression- and they last for months.
A 2006 study in the
European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology discovered that 86% of
patients using marijuana successfully finished their therapies, while only 29%
of the non-smokers completed their treatments, maybe because marijuana helps to
lessen the treatments’ side effects.
Cannabis also helps to
improve the treatment’s effectiveness. 54% of the Hep C patients smoking
marijuana got their viral levels low, and kept them low, compared to the only
8% of the non-smokers.
10.
DECREASE ANXIETY:
In 2010,
researchers at Harvard University suggested that another of the drug’s benefits
may actually be reduced anxiety, which would improve the smoker’s mood and act
as a sedative in low doses.
Beware,
though, higher doses may increase anxiety and make you paranoid.
11.
PROTECT BRAIN AFTER A STROKE:
Research
(done on rats, mice, and monkeys) from the University of Nottingham shows that
cannabis may help protect the brain from damage caused by a stroke by reducing
the size of the area affected by the stroke.
This
isn’t the only research that has shown neuroprotective effects from cannabis.
Some research shows that the plant may help protect the brain after other
traumatic events like concussions.
12.
PROTECT THE BRAIN FROM CONCUSSION AND TRAUMA:
A recent
study in the journal Cerebral Cortex showed possibilities that marijuana can
help heal the brain after a concussion, or another traumatic injury.
In the
journal, it was said that the experiments were done on mice, and that marijuana
lessened the bruising of the brain and helped with healing mechanisms after a
traumatic injury.
Harvard
professor emeritus of psychiatry and marijuana advocate Lester Grinspoon
recently wrote an open letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodall, saying that
NFL should stop testing players for marijuana, and instead should fund for
research on marijuana plant’s ability to protect the brain.
In the
open letter, he writes,
“Already
many doctors and researchers believe that marijuana has incredibly powerful
neuroprotective properties, an understanding based on both laboratory, and
clinical data.”
In
response, Goodall recently mentioned that he’d consider permitting athletes to
use marijuana if medical research shows that it’s an effective neuroprotective
agent.
13. HELP
ELIMINATE NIGHTMARES:
This is
a bit complicated because it involves both positive and negative effects.
Marijuana may disturb the sleep cycle by interrupting the later stages of REM
sleep.
However,
people who suffer from serious nightmares, especially patients with PTSD, can
be helpful. Nightmares and other dreams occur during those same stages of
sleep.
By
interrupting REM sleep, many of those dreams may not occur. Research using a
synthetic cannabinoid, like THC, showed a decrease in the number of nightmares
in patients with PTSD.
Marijuana
may be a better sleep aid than some other medications or even alcohol because
the latter two may potentially have worse effects on sleep, though more
research is needed on the topic.
14. TREAT
INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES:
Just
like Crohn’s disease, patients with other inflammatory bowel diseases like
ulcerative colitis could benefit from marijuana use, studies suggest.
In 2010,
the University of Nottingham researchers has found that chemicals in marijuana,
including THC, and cannabidiol, interact with cells in the body that play an
important role in gut function, and immune system.
THC like
chemicals made by the body increases the permeability of the intestines,
allowing bacteria in. The plant-derived cannabinoids in marijuana block these
body-cannabinoids, stopping this permeability, and making the intestinal bond tighter
together.
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