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Medical marihuana is legal in 26 states , the District of Columbia and Guam . Proponents of marijuana , backed by several studies , say the drug has many therapeutic uses . Opponents — and the U.S. government — however , say it has a eminent potential drop for ill-usage and no logical sanative value .
Marijuana ’s medicinal uses can be traced back as early as 2737 B.C. , when the emperor ofChina , Shen Neng , vaunt cannabis tea as a treatment for gout , rheumatism , malaria and even misfortunate memory , writes Mitch Earleywine , a professor of psychological science at the State University of New York at Albany who researches drugs and habituation , in " translate Marijuana : A New Look at the Scientific Evidence " ( Oxford University Press , 2005 ) . The drug ’s popularity as a medicine spread out throughout Asia , the Middle East and then to Africa and India , where Hindu sects used it for painful sensation and stress relief .
Organic Cannabis indica purchased from a Medical Cannabis dispensary in California.
William O’Shaughnessy , an Irish doctor , popularized medical use of cannabis in England and America after note its effects in India .
But by the belated 1800s , with morphine habituation rearing in the United States , attitudes toward drug such as marijuana shifted dramatically . As a final result , the Food and Drug Administration was work in 1906 . While marijuana was n’t specifically mentioned in the original FDA guidelines , the move to control chemical substances curtail its use as discourse .
By 1937 , the Marihuana Tax Act [ sic ] imposed such high taxes on physicians dictate marijuana , retail pill roller selling cannabis , and those cultivating medical cannabis that it essentially fell out of favor as a discourse .
Health benefits
Medical marijuana is uncommitted in several unlike form . It can be fume , vaporized , ingested in a lozenge form or an edible version can be added to foods such as brownies , cooky and chocolate taproom .
Because the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has classified marijuana as aschedule 1 drug — meaning it has a high potential drop for abuse and no legitimate therapeutic use — it is exceptionally hard to do high - quality studies on its medicative effects in the United States , tell Donald Abrams , an consolidative medicine specialiser for Cancer the Crab patients at the University of California , San Francisco .
But the idea that marijuana may have therapeutic event is root in substantial science . Marijuana contains 60 dynamic ingredient known as cannabinoids . The body naturally makes its own form of cannabinoids to modulate pain , Abrams said .
The primary psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana isTHC , or tetrahydrocannabinol . tetrahydrocannabinol direct the CB1 receptor , a cannabinoid sense organ found principally in the brain , but also in the nervous arrangement , liver , kidney and lung . The CB1 receptor is activate to quiet the response to pain or noxious chemicals .
CBC , another cannabinoid , may be used to reducing pain and lighting . It may also assist in see epileptic ictus and treating genial unwellness and addiction , agree to theNational Institute on Drug Abuse .
A marijuana derivative , cannabidiol ( CBD ) , was found to be good in the treatment of severe epilepsy in a 2017 orotund - scale , randomized clinical test write in the New England Journal of Medicine . Almost 40 percentage of subject player get a significant reduction in seizures .
In a placebo - controlled , 2007 study in the journal Neurology , Abrams and his co-worker found that marijuana is in effect at reducing neuropathic pain , or pain because of damage nerves , in HIV patients . opiate , such as morphia , are n’t effective at treating that sorting of pain . Abrams enjoin .
In another study , they feel that marijuana , in addition to opiates , lead to dramatic levels of hurting relief . ( Animal models have found alike impression ) .
" Cannabinoids plus opiate are synergistic in their reliever of pain , so that 1 + 1 = 5 and not 2 , " Abrams told Live Science .
Researchers at the American Academy of Neurology have also found that aesculapian marijuana in the physique of pills or unwritten sprays seemed to reduce stiffness and muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis ( MS ) . The medications also ease certain symptom of MS , such as pain related to spasm , and painful burning and numbness , as well as overactive bladder , according to a number of subject .
A well - do it consequence of marijuana use is the " munchies , " so it has been used to stimulate appetite among HIV / AIDS patients and others who have a conquer appetite due to a medical condition or treatment . Medical marijuana is also frequently used to address nausea induced by chemotherapy , though scientific study of the smoked configuration of the works are circumscribed .
" You do not need a randomized , placebo - controlled trial to tell you that cannabis is in effect as an antinausea therapy for affected role gettingchemotherapy , " Abrams tell . " It works . It ’s like needing to do a placebo - controlled trial of penicillin as an antibiotic . "
Two FDA - approved , chemically altered signifier of THC , dronabinol and nabilone , have been shown to reduce chemotherapy - colligate sickness and vomiting in cancer patients . It is also used to help with the symptoms of AIDS , according to theU.S. National Library of Medicine .
aesculapian marijuana has also been tout as a discussion for glaucoma , which is an elevated pressure in the eyeball that can take to blindness . While smoking marijuana may thin intraocular pressure , marijuana must be consumed legion time during the day to have the desired effect and other drugs are more effective , according to the American Cancer Society . Cannabidiol ( CBD ) is a non - psychoactive component of marijuana that has healing benefit , but because it does not point the CB1 sensory receptor , it does n’t result people feeling pit .
For exercise , a 2012 study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry find that cannabidiol may be effective in treatingschizophrenia . In the study at the University of Cologne , 42 patients randomly received either cannabidiol or amisulpride , an in force drug used for the treatment of schizophrenic disorder , for 28 days . comparing of the clinical effects find " no relevant difference " between the two treatment .
A2014 studyby the College of Pharmacy of the University of South Florida that THC could be helpful in the therapeutic treatment of Alzheimer ’s disease , as well .
Side effects
Marijuana does have side event . THC binds to cannabinoid receptors , which are concentrated in areas of the brain associated with thinking , memory , pleasure , coordination and time perception . The issue of marijuana can interfere with tending , judgment and balance .
Studies have grow conflicting result on whether smoke marijuana carry a significant Crab risk . Medical marijuana " prescriptions " are term " recommendations " or " referral " because of Union laws disallow the prescribing of cannabis .
A2016 studyon 108 people by the University of Michigan Health System found that marijuana use may also make other dependance worse .
Medical marijuana availability: state by state
The states and territorial dominion with aesculapian marihuana Torah are : Alaska , Arizona , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , the District of Columbia , Florida , Guam , Hawaii , Illinois , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Montana , Nevada , New Hampshire , New York , New Jersey , New Mexico , North Dakota , Ohio , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , Vermont and Washington .
All the states require a doctor ’s approval . Many of the states that allow medical marijuana have an online applications programme process .
In most states , patients need to satiate out the software , give a fee and provide recognition information . To successfully pick up an ID card in most states , patient role need a signed financial statement from a doctor diagnosing the consideration and a papers stating that aesculapian marijuana is the discussion recommend for the patient role ’s finicky condition and place .
Most of the laws allow dispensaries and outline specific conditions for which medical marihuana can be prescribed . The restriction also vary by state of matter as to the data formatting and amount of medical marijuana that can be obtained at each visit for personal use .
You might not think marijuana and quizzes go together , but on the assumption that you arrived at this quiz sober , we puzzle some serious motion that will require your last attention and vital thought skill . Good luck .
Pot Quiz : Test Your Marijuana Knowledge , Dude !
Additional reporting by Alina Bradford , Live Science Contributor .
This clause is for informational purposes only , and is not meant to extend medical advice .
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