For thousands of years Cannabis Sativa has been used medically throughout the world. The legalization of medical marijuana has been a very controversial topic in the United States. In the year 1970 the United States government classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance that has no medical value. Even though marijuana has been considered illegal since the 1970s it is the most widely used illicit recreational drug. In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. In 2016, there are 28 states that have medical marijuana legalized and of those 28 states eight have recreational use of marijuana legalized. The legalization of medical marijuana is an issue that is being discussed in the United States right now and a lot
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Cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are the active chemicals in marijuana that give medical benefits. Marijuana can be used to prevent the eye disease glaucoma, which increases the pressure in the eyeball. According to the National Eye Institute, “Studies in the early 1970s showed that marijuana, when smoked, lowered intraocular pressure (IOP) in people with normal pressure and those with glaucoma.” With these positive effects on glaucoma it can slow the progression of the disease and prevent blindness.
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions. About one percent of the American population has epilepsy and about 30 percent is resistant to the anticonvulsant drug treatments. Marijuana can be used to help treat epilepsy and decrease the amount of seizures. Robert J. DeLorenzo performed a study in 2003 on rats with epilepsy. The rats were then given marijuana extract and synthetic marijuana which got rid of the seizures in the rats for about 10 hours (The Endogenous Cannabinoid System Regulates Seizure Frequency and Duration in a Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, …show more content…
Many cancers are treated with chemotherapy. Cancer patients that are treated with chemotherapy suffers from side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and the lose of appetite. These side effects can cause additional health complications. These side effects from chemotherapy can be counteracted by marijuana. Marijuana can decrease the nausea, alleviate pain, and stimulate appetite.
Marijuana may have many medical benefits but it also has many harmful side effects. Many people believe that you cannot get addicted to marijuana. The prevalence of use for marijuana peaks in the late teens and in the early twenties. The lifetime dependency risk for marijuana is 9% which is small compared to 32% for nicotine, 23% for heroin, 17% for cocaine, and 15% for alcohol(Blurred Boundaries: The Therapeutics and Politics of Medical Marijuana, 175). Even though marijuana has a small percentage for lifetime dependency it still disproves people’s ideas of how it is not
Cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are the active chemicals in marijuana that give medical benefits. Marijuana can be used to prevent the eye disease glaucoma, which increases the pressure in the eyeball. According to the National Eye Institute, “Studies in the early 1970s showed that marijuana, when smoked, lowered intraocular pressure (IOP) in people with normal pressure and those with glaucoma.” With these positive effects on glaucoma it can slow the progression of the disease and prevent blindness.
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions. About one percent of the American population has epilepsy and about 30 percent is resistant to the anticonvulsant drug treatments. Marijuana can be used to help treat epilepsy and decrease the amount of seizures. Robert J. DeLorenzo performed a study in 2003 on rats with epilepsy. The rats were then given marijuana extract and synthetic marijuana which got rid of the seizures in the rats for about 10 hours (The Endogenous Cannabinoid System Regulates Seizure Frequency and Duration in a Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, …show more content…
Many cancers are treated with chemotherapy. Cancer patients that are treated with chemotherapy suffers from side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and the lose of appetite. These side effects can cause additional health complications. These side effects from chemotherapy can be counteracted by marijuana. Marijuana can decrease the nausea, alleviate pain, and stimulate appetite.
Marijuana may have many medical benefits but it also has many harmful side effects. Many people believe that you cannot get addicted to marijuana. The prevalence of use for marijuana peaks in the late teens and in the early twenties. The lifetime dependency risk for marijuana is 9% which is small compared to 32% for nicotine, 23% for heroin, 17% for cocaine, and 15% for alcohol(Blurred Boundaries: The Therapeutics and Politics of Medical Marijuana, 175). Even though marijuana has a small percentage for lifetime dependency it still disproves people’s ideas of how it is not