Medical Marijuana: Uses and Benefits
What is medical marijuana?
Medical marijuana uses marijuana plants or chemicals in them to treat illnesses and conditions. It’s basically the same product as recreational marijuana, but it’s used for medical purposes.
Marijuana plants contain more than 100 chemicals called cannabinoids. Each has a different effect on the body. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the major chemicals used in medicine. THC also produces the “high” people who feel when they smoke marijuana or eat foods that contain marijuana.
What is medical marijuana used for?
More and more states are legalizing marijuana to treat pain and illness. Find out under what conditions it is used and what are the known side effects.
Researchers are investigating whether medical marijuana can help treat many of the following symptoms:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Anorexia
- Cancer
- Crohn’s disease
- Diseases that affect the immune system, such as HIV / AIDS and multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Eating disorders such as loss of appetite
- Epilepsy
- Glaucoma
- Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Multiple sclerosis
- Cramps
- Nausea
- Pain
- Epilepsy seizures
- Wasting syndrome (cachexia)
How does it help?
- Cannabinoids, the active chemicals in medical marijuana, are similar to the chemicals that the body makes and are involved in appetite, memory, movement, and pain.
Limited studies suggest that cannabinoids are:
- Reduce anxiety
- Reduces inflammation and relieves pain
- Controlling nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy
- Kills cancer cells and slows tumor growth
- Relaxing the skeletal muscles of people with multiple sclerosis
- Stimulates the appetite of people with cancer and AIDS and improves weight gain
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