5 Benefits Of Cannabis As A Medicine
The Public Health Association in Australia has backed the legalization of the medicinal cannabis for its use to treat some illness. Under the proposed scheme, terminally and chronically ill individuals would apply to the ACT Chief Health Officer for approval to grow cannabis and use the drug as part of their treatment. The said proposal calls for the governing bodies to recognize and support research pertaining to the long-term benefits and risks of cannabis compounds for medicinal purposes.
Applications would fall into three categories: an illness with prognosis of death within a year, a serious illness or condition such as cancer, AIDS or HIV, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or epilepsy, or a chronic or debilitating condition.
The concept of medical cannabis is not new. The ancient physicians prescribed it for pain relief, digestive problems and psychological disorders, among other conditions.
Cannabis sativa is the plant from which the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds are extracted and used as marijuana. There are about 100 related cannabinoids that are found in marijuana out of which two main cannabinoids are currently of therapeutic interest: delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive substance and cannabidiol (CBD) found in varying ratios in the marijuana plant.
THC can stimulate appetite and reduces nausea. It can also decrease pain, inflammation, and spasticity. CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid can prove useful in reducing pain and inflammation, controlling epileptic seizures, and possibly even treating psychosis and addictions.
5 Medical Use of Cannabinoids
The THC or tetrahydrocannabinol has pain-relieving properties and generates feelings of euphoria. These properties might be of immense benefit for people with chronic pain, to relieve nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and alleviate the effects of progressive diseases such as glaucoma and multiple sclerosis (MS).
The cannabis-based drugs Dronabinol and Nabilone which are approved by the FDA have been shown to reduce chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting in cancer patients.
Medical cannabis can treat glaucoma, an elevated pressure in the eyeball that can lead to blindness.
Cannabis is used for stimulating appetite among HIV/AIDS patients and others who have a suppressed appetite due to a medical condition or treatment since on consumption it makes you wanting to munch something.
A non-psychoactive component of marijuana called the Cannabidiol (CBD) has been shown to have therapeutic benefits which can prove effective in treating patients with schizophrenia without the feeling of being stoned.
