With ongoing debates about nationwide
marijuana legalization, and the increasing number of states that are now
permitting its consumption, you may no longer need to fear drug tests. Though
until legislation is passed to make recreational marijuana legal, we suggest
you stick to your detoxification routines to
get weed out of your system
before the big day.
The use of medical marijuana is
currently more common than the recreational application of the drug. There is a
very good reason for that. Marijuana and its byproducts are being incorporated
into the world of medicine and extensive research, at least as extensive as
could be done with all the legal restrictions around its possession, has been
put into discovering the many uses of the drug.
At the moment, marijuana and its byproducts are being used in 4 main areas. They are as following:
Multiple Sclerosis and Marijuana
Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease which attacks your brain, spinal cord, and nerves. Although the disease doesn’t have a cure, its progression has been successfully slowed down through the treatment. Multiple Sclerosis is basically caused by an overactive immune system which starts to attack cells in the body including brain cells, cells in the spinal cord, or optical nerves that make up the central nervous system. This then results in a wide range of symptoms and some are debilitating to the health of the affected.
Most medical research focuses on two chemicals that marijuana contains
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Of the two, THC is
responsible for the “high” that marijuana gives, it also helps reduce nausea,
increase appetite and the ability control muscles. CBD, on the other hand, does
not have any psychoactive effects, but does help in the treatment of mental
health conditions and epileptic seizures.
Through experimentation and trials, it has been proven that medical marijuana can reduce muscle stiffness and spasticity and also alleviate pain in patients.
Cancer Treatment and Marijuana
Although marijuana does not significantly help in the treatment of
cancer itself, and limited studies have shown that it only slows down and very
rarely causes the death of cancer cells, its use is quite popular in the
treatment of certain side effects of chemotherapy such as nausea and loss of
appetite.
The chemical THC found in marijuana is known to quell
chemotherapy-induced vomiting in patients. Its consumption also showed a
drastic improvement in the amount of food cancer patients were consuming while
undergoing the treatment. Cannabinoids are also used to relieve pain that
patients endure as a result of their ailment.
Research into the use of marijuana to cure cancer has been conducted and more are planned for the near future. But thus far, the only result seen is that marijuana is safe to use for cancer patients and doesn’t do much to cure the condition itself, hang near negligible effects on it.
Seizure Disorders and Marijuana
Medical marijuana is not often clinically prescribed for the
treatment of seizure disorders such as epilepsy. Despite this, it is being used
increasingly as an alternative to AED drugs that are the preferred treatment in
such cases. Resistance to antiseizure drugs has become more common and is the
leading cause of the popularity that medicines containing CBD have garnered in
the past years. People have turned to marijuana assuming that it, being more
natural, is safer than AED.
A lot of the research conducted on the relationship between marijuana consumption and seizures was conducted before the 1990s and, although the results showed promising drops in the number of seizures users had, the trials still faced criticism. As a result, their findings were called into question because of the sample size they used. Even though a lot of patients and parents of children who have challenging forms of epilepsy swear by its effectiveness, it still isn’t an FDA approved treatment because the long term side effects of marijuana and its byproducts haven’t been discovered.
Crohn’s Disease and Marijuana:
Crohn’s Disease is of inflammatory bowel disorder (IBD) where the body’s immune system attacks cells of the gastrointestinal tract. This results in inflammation of the tract and other symptoms arise from this. Cannabinoids are assumed by many to relieve this inflammation and hence counter the other symptoms. It is also used for the relief of pain that the symptoms of the disease cause.
As in the case of other common uses of medicinal marijuana, there is little evidence to back its effectiveness in the treatment of Crohn’s Disease too.
Medicinal marijuana is very
promising for the treatment of many conditions that can’t be treated otherwise.
But research into this is fettered by the countless amount of restrictions that
have been placed on its use and production in the many parts of the world. So
until there can be freedom to explore its efficacy, we shouldn’t rule it out as
a possible alternative to more rigorous treatments.
The post Top 4 Clinical Applications Of Medical Marijuana appeared first on FairCannaCare.
Source: faircannacare