This paper examines the therapeutic advantages of medical marijuana, tracing its use from ancient civilizations in China and India through its ban in 1937 and subsequent resurgence in medical research. Drawing on the National Academy of Sciences report and other studies, the paper outlines conditions for which cannabis has demonstrated clinical benefit, including cancer-related nausea, AIDS-related wasting, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, glaucoma, epilepsy, and Alzheimer's disease. The paper also briefly considers the ongoing debate surrounding risk versus benefit, noting that while recreational use lacks broad health justification, targeted medical applications show measurable promise.
Marijuana has been a chief ingredient in natural remedies for thousands of years. Marijuana products were used in China and India as early as 3000 B.C. to treat a variety of ailments, from easing the pain of childbirth to relieving asthma and epilepsy, and even improving appetite and disposition. Over the centuries, marijuana has been used to treat a number of different diseases. In the United States, as many as 30 marijuana-based medicines were distributed as recently as 1937, when the Marijuana Tax Act closed the door on further medical use of the drug. But the door did not stay shut. As the use of marijuana expanded, researchers began to reconsider the possible therapeutic uses of this drug. Much of the renewed interest was ignited by users themselves, who reported that the drug helped relieve a variety of problems (Parker, 2007).
Initially, interest focused on common ailments such as headaches and menstrual cramps. More recently, however, cannabis has been examined in relation to more serious conditions, including glaucoma, the wasting syndrome associated with AIDS, and movement disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Tourette's syndrome. It is in the treatment of these conditions that marijuana has been thought to have the greatest therapeutic potential. Its potential was deemed significant enough, and public support strong enough, that by 1997 then-national drug czar Barry McCaffrey commissioned the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive two-year study of marijuana's value as a therapeutic drug (Parker, 2007).
The Academy's report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, likely disappointed both sides of the debate by concluding that marijuana and its active ingredients — known as cannabinoids — show promise against a range of conditions, but not always to the extent that some advocates had hoped. According to the report, marijuana is most useful in treating pain and in relieving the nausea and vomiting that occurs with many cancer therapies (Parker, 2007).
Until it was banned in 1937, extract of Cannabis sativa was one of the three most prescribed medications in the United States. When it became illegal, its use as a medicine became severely limited. Despite these restrictions, research on the medical use of marijuana has continued. In recent years, a number of states have decided to legalize smoked marijuana for certain patients. As a result, medical marijuana has become the subject of considerable and ongoing debate (Cannabis in the Clinic?: The Medical Marijuana Debate, 2010).
The active compounds found in marijuana are similar to a class of molecules produced naturally in the human body known as endocannabinoids. Both types bind to receptors in the brain and throughout the body called cannabinoid receptors. This process helps regulate the immune system, protects nerve cells from premature death, and influences mood, memory, appetite, sleep, and movement (Cannabis in the Clinic?: The Medical Marijuana Debate, 2010).
"Cancer, AIDS, pain, and autoimmune applications listed"
"Brain cell growth, Alzheimer's, glaucoma, epilepsy findings"
"Balancing medical promise against health risks"
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