While more than half of the US states have legalized use of medical marijuana, a majority of other states have started to consider bills on legalizing medical marijuana in their respective states.
Despite several people have been using marijuana, it would be pertinent to mention here that the FDA has approved the use of medical marijuana for treating two of the rarest forms of epilepsy:
- Dravet Syndrome
- Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome
Understanding medical marijuana
Medical marijuana would make use of marijuana plant or chemicals in order to treat health conditions or diseases. It would be the same product as used for recreational marijuana. However, the major difference would be its purpose of use i.e. medical purposes.
The marijuana plant would comprise more than a hundred different chemicals known as cannabinoids. Everyone would be having a unique effect on the body of the user. THC or tetrahydrocannabinol and CBD or cannabidiol have been the major chemicals used in the medicine. It would be pertinent to mention here that THC has also been known to produce the high that people tend to feel after smoking marijuana or consume food encompassing marijuana.
Various medical marijuana uses
Medical marijuana has been used for treating various kinds of health conditions inclusive of the following:
- Chronic Pain
- Nausea
- Muscle Spasms
- Multiple Sclerosis
- PTSD and other mental health conditions
- Glaucoma
- Epilepsy
- Eating Disorders
- Crohn’s Disease
- Cancer
- Alzheimer’s Disease
How does medical marijuana help the user?
Cannabinoids have been the active chemicals useful in medical marijuana. They have been deemed similar to the chemicals of the body that would be involved in memory, appetite, pain, and movement.
Cannabinoids have been used for reducing the following conditions:
- Stimulating appetite
- Improving weight gain
- Relaxation of tight muscles in people suffering from MS
- Slows tumor growth by killing the cancer cells
- Controls nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy
- Relieving pain and reducing inflammation
- Helps in reducing anxiety
- Marijuana and seizure disorders
Medical marijuana has been receiving plenty of attention for a significant length of time when parents praised about a specific drug helping them control seizures in the children. The FDA had approved CBD to be a form of therapy, especially for people having severe or difficult to treat seizures. There have been studies where people had been proven to benefit from a significant drop in seizures after taking the drug.
However, you would be required to have a medical prescription from a licensed doctor in states where medical marijuana has been deemed legal.
