Both modern and early day research works have pondered over the health benefits of marijuana. Its benefits include treating dementia and providing relief to patients suffering from chronic pain and anxiety including cancer. However, many people also think that the use of marijuana can affect cognitive functions and add to the worsening of mental health status.
Unfortunately, due to the sparse literature availability of cannabis sativa, it is tough to determine the effect of marijuana on different people’s brains. Despite, medical marijuana having THC being legalized in many places, the Drug Enforcement Administration still identifies it as a substance that has “no currently accepted medical use”. Additionally, with this substance, there’s a greater chance for abuse. The scarcity of clinical results has made it tough for governments to reach a conclusion.
Despite a number of benefits, there are some drawbacks with marijuana usage one of them being affect on cognition. Unfortunately, teenagers using marijuana tend to suffer from low IQ and slow brain functionality. On the contrary, people with medical conditions might see betterment in brain functioning. However, this definitely doesn’t mean that using marijuana at any age is going to produce similar or positive results. People using marijuana prior to the age of 16 performed very badly in experiments and tests. They even smoked twice as much as the other marijuana users.
The majority medical marijuana users showed better results and some related studies have shown that marijuana exacerbates conditions like schizophrenia. Marijuana in cancer treatment is very effective as it turned off the Id-1 gene. CBD can even prevent the spread of cancer. Cannabidiol is equally effective in treating breast cancer. Marijuana also helps to slow down the growth of tumors in the brain including areas like breast and lungs to name some.
THC in marijuana slows the growth and progression of Alzheimer’s as it slows down the formation of amyloid plaques and it blocks the enzyme in the brain. It is also used to treat glaucoma that aggravates the pressure in the eyeball while affecting the optic nerve and resulting in vision loss.
Marijuana also helps to relieve arthritis as it controls the pain and inflammation and improves sleep quality which helps to relieve the pain and discomfort. It further helps to relieve epileptic seizures and ease the pain for multiple sclerosis. Also, smoking marijuana reduces pain and tremors while improving sleep quality for Parkinson’s patients.
Though there are many benefits of Marijuana, it is always recommended to consult a doctor before its consumption.
