Marijuana is being legalized in countries around the world. It’s relaxing effect is what probably made it so popular, but did you know that marijuana is officially used in medicine? Yeah, it has become a prescription drug and it’s commonly used in treatment of glaucoma and cancer, as it alleviates the pain in patients suffering from these conditions.
These are not the only use cases of marijuana in medicine. If you want to find out which diseases can be treated by using marijuana, scroll down. We have put together a list of five diseases whose symptoms are alleviated by this powerful herb.
Alzheimer’s
Over the past 14 years, the death rate from Alzheimer’s disease has gone up by almost 90% in the US. Alzheimer’s disease belongs to the category of dementias, which are known for their harsh symptoms that affect mental health and a person’s life. This is perhaps the worst dementia, as it starts very slowly with almost no symptoms at all, and then it quickly progresses, taking people’s lives in a gallop.
The symptom that lies at the core of Alzheimer’s is memory loss. It starts by erasing the memory of recent events, but as the disease progresses the long-term memory becomes more affected by it. Some of the other symptoms may include: anxiety, aggression, insomnia, depression and problems in communication.
Marijuana has two use cases in this instance. Thanks to its anxiolytic, relaxant and analgesic effects, marijuana is used to ease the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. But more importantly, it appears that Marijuana can delay the onset of this disease.
This study has established the link between one of Marijuana’s active compounds, THC, with beta amyloid proteins. These proteins are responsible for causing and progressing the disease. In fact, THC slows the production of these proteins.
Asthma
Asthma, or if you want, reactive airway disease, affects a surprisingly large number of people. If we consult statistics, more than 300 million people are suffering from this terrible disease worldwide. The disease shrinks the airways in patients so the air can’t move as easily and it becomes harder for people to breathe. The two most uncomfortable symptoms are breathlessness and wheezing.
Asthma attacks are particularly nasty and can be triggered by some of the factors in the environment. During the attack, patients can experience shortness of breath, feel tightness and be unable to stop coughing. In some instances, severe asthma attacks can be life-threatening.
Although it may sound a bit controversial, smoking marijuana can help patients with asthma. Since asthma is a chronic inflammation of the lungs, and marijuana acts as an anti-inflammatory substance, this herb can help alleviate the symptoms of asthma.
It appears that the people with allergic asthma respond very well to treatments based on this cannabinoid. Both smoked marijuana and supplements containing THC cause the dilatation of the airways.
This research proves that smoking marijuana via a vaporizer holds more benefits for people with asthma. This is because vaporizers remove the lunk-irritating smoke from the treatment.
Chronic Pain
Chronic pain can be caused by a number of diseases, two of which are glaucoma and cancer. Marijuana has been a subject of many studies aiming to discover and prove its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. A number of studies have confirmed this.
Several authors published the results of their research in the renowned publication Pain Med in 2009. The research – “Systematic review and meta-analysis of cannabis treatment for chronic pain” – has proven that cannabis treatment significantly reduces chronic pain.
Marijuana also affects our subjective perception of pain. In fact, THC affects how we perceive adverseness to pain despite its intensity. The subjects with chronic pain who were taking Marijuana experienced numerous benefits, one of which was not caring about the pain as much as before the treatment.
Marijuana benefits patients who had their nerves cut during surgeries too. In this instance, chronic pain (neuropathic pain) symptoms have been alleviated. Simply put, marijuana is an analgesic and it has proven medical value in the treatment of chronic pain.
Epilepsy
Ever since the state of Pennsylvania said “yes” to medical marijuana for epilepsy and autism patients in 2016, there has been a lot of talk about marijuana and the benefits it has to offer to people with this disease. In any case, this was great news for more than 800,000 people living in the US with active epilepsy.
In fact, all components of marijuana – including the psychoactive compound THC, and two non-psychoactive components CBD and CBDV – have beneficial effects on patients with epilepsy.
While THC activates the CB1 receptor in their brain, signaling it to reduce seizures, CBD and CBDV desensitize the calcium channel (TRPV1), thus making neurons less likely to become hyperexcitable, preventing epilepsy episodes from occuring.
Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis affects patients’ cognition, as well as their overall physical well being. As the disease progresses, these symptoms may become even more severe and induce some secondary symptoms. Marijuana treatment looks promising for patients with MS.
It’s non psychoactive component – CBD – helps a lot with MS symptoms. CBD renders immune cells harmless in patients with MS. Since immune cells mutate and attack the insulating covers of nerve cells in the MS patients’ spine, this causes a lot of unbearable pain. CBD prevents this from occurring and helps patients by alleviating MS symptoms.
THC also helps the patients with MS. In fact, this component of marijuana significantly reduces muscle stiffness in MS patients. Additionally, THC improves better sleep quality for MS patients.
These are the five diseases that can be treated by using marijuana. As you can see, there are also scientific studies to back up these marijuana applications. Since there is still room for medical research, we can conclude that marijuana may still hold a few secrets.
