The call for the legalization of marijuana has been making its way to the Supreme Court because of the people who believe this drug coul...
The call for the legalization of marijuana has been making its way to the Supreme Court because of the people who believe this drug could be of medical use.
However, up until now, the issue is still controversial and the verdict whether or not to legalize it is still being considered. The decision might trigger people to abuse the drug and cause dangerous impacts to the body like dependency and mess with your memory and emotions.
Upon research, there's only 6% of studies which analyze its medicinal properties.
There are at least two chemicals found active in marijuana that researchers think may contain possible medicinal applications. Those are cannabidiol (CBD) — which seems to impact the brain without a potential high— and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — which has pain relieving (and other) properties.
Here are some of the health benefits that marijuana carries:
1. It may improve our lung health and lessen cancer-causing substances on tobacco.
It may help reverse the carcinogenic effects of tobacco according to a study published in Journal of the American Medical Association last January 2012. It says there that marijuana does not worsen the lung function and might even increase its capacity.
Tobacco smokers obviously lost lung function over time, but surprisingly, pot users actually showed an increase with theirs.
It's possible that this is due to taking a deep breath while inhaling the drug and not from a therapeutic chemical.
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2. It can help control epileptic seizures.
Smoking pot can prevent epileptic seizures according to a study showed last 2003.
Robert J. DeLorenzo, of Virginia Commonwealth University, gave marijuana extract and synthetic marijuana to epileptic rats. The drug prevent the triggering of the seizures for about 10 hours. Cannabinoids like the active ingredients in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (also known as THC), control seizures by binding to the brain cells responsible for controlling excitability and regulating relaxation.
These findings were published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
3. It may reduce anxiety.
Medical marijuana users claim that smoking it somehow relieves pain and suppress nausea — the two main reasons it's often used to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy.
In 2010, researchers at Harvard Medical School suggested that that some of the drug's benefits may actually be from reduced anxiety, which would improve the smoker's mood and serve as a sedative in low doses.
However, it also cause side effects once abused, higher doses may increase anxiety and make you paranoid.
4. It keeps you skinny and balance your metabolism.
A recent study published in the American Journal Of Medicine on April 15 of last year suggested that pot smokers are skinnier than the average person and have healthier metabolism and reaction to sugars, even though they admit and do end up eating more calories because of the hype.
The study obtained data from more than 4,500 adult Americans — 579 of whom were current marijuana smokers, meaning they had smoked in the last month. About 2,000 had used marijuana in the past, while another 2,000 had never used the drug.
They studied the respondants bodies react upon eating sugars: their levels of the hormone insulin and their blood sugar levels while they hadn't eaten in nine hours, and after eating sugar.
Not only the pot users get skinnier, but their body also gained a healthier response to sugar.
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5. It can make nightmares gone.
On this benefit, there is positive and negative effect.
Marijuana disturbs sleep cycles by interrupting the later stages of REM sleep. In the long run, this could be a problem for frequent users.
But for people suffering from serious nightmares, especially those associated with PTSD, this is a helpful remedy. Nightmares and other dreams occur during those same stages of sleep. By the marijuana interrupting REM sleep, many of those bad dreams may not occur.
And for some, marijuana is a good sleeping pill as it is reported to give a better sleep once taken before bed time.
6. It eases arthritis discomfort.
Marijuana reduces the pain and inflammation of people suffering from arthritis. It also promotes sleep, which may help relieve pain and discomfort as researchers announced in 2011.
7. Marijuana treats inflammatory bowel diseases.
Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis could benefit from marijuana use as studies suggest in the University of Nottingham wherein researchers found in 2010 that chemicals in marijuana, including THC and cannabidiol, interact with cells in the body that play an important role in gut function and immune responses. The study was published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
THC-like compounds made by the body increase the permeability of the intestines, allowing bacteria in. The plant-derived cannabinoids in marijuana block these body-cannabinoids, preventing this permeability and making the intestinal cells bond together tighter.
After all, marijuana could be of better purpose than what we were taught. There is more to it than a drug causing addiction.
