One thing that is seemed to be looked down upon in society is the use of medical marijuana. But how can something that seems to have so many positive side effects be looked upon as something bad. This may because marijuana is known as a “gateway drug” or that is often associated to people that have a lack of motivation or have poor social standing. Another reason for this is that a person may not know the many positive outcomes with using medical marijuana. The list of the diseases and issues that it treats is longer than many other modern medicines that any scientist has made. These are all possible uses for medical marijuana:
- Nausea and Vomiting
- Anorexia and Cachexia
- Spasticity
- Movement Disorders
- Pain
- Glaucoma
- Epilepsy
- Asthma
- Dependency and Withdrawal
- Psychiatric Symptoms
- Autoimmune Diseases and Inflammation
These are only some of the medical issues that are treated with medical marijuana. One advantage that is overlooked with medical marijuana is the fact that is it is natural. This means that marijuana, for the most part, is a natural substance that is no chemically synthesized in the lab with many different chemicals. Many of the pharmaceuticals that are used today or that are made by big businesses are made by the combination of many different chemicals that are added together. Medical marijuana is grown by licensed and heavily monitored farmer. Medical marijuana is grown in the soil and is a plant. This seems to be safer than the man-made pharmaceuticals.
But how does all these positive affects seem to occur within the body? This is because some of the active chemicals within the medical marijuana are very similar to those that are in the human body. The main chemical components that make up marijuana are cannabinoids. There are 60 different cannabinoids that can be found within the marijuana plant. The high feeling is that is associated with marijuana is caused by the chemical Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This is considered a cannabinoid. These 60 chemicals that are in marijuana are able to interact with the endocannabinoid system that is within every human’s brain. The cannabinoids that are in marijuana bind to the G-protein coupled receptors that are meant for the human endocannabinoids. This allows for the signaling cascades that are associated with endocannabinoids to occur. This is because endocannabinoids allow for the feeling of pleasure and reward to occur. By using medical marijuana, people are able to feel that pleasure and don’t have to feel the pain that is associated with their disease or hardship.
One of the problems with medical marijuana is that is not much that is reported about the negative side effects of the drugs. It almost seems that there is too much that is good about the drug and not enough bad things. This is because so many modern drugs tend to have many side effects that are associated with them and the that medical marijuana hardly has any is kind of alarming. But if it is helping this much without any side effects, maybe it should be legalized more and should be prescribed more in medical institutions.
