The reasons and contentions for legalizing marijuana have been a debatable topic for too long now. There are groups of people who strongly believe in its medicinal properties and then there are groups of people who are still in the testing stage of marijuana as a medical alternative. Nevertheless, there have been many studies conducted so far and the results have been positive, showing that marijuana can help people overcome many ailments and help them fight many psychological disorders.
Here is the list of health problems which marijuana has been shown to have a positive effect on so far.
Glaucoma
Marijuana is found to be beneficial for patients with an eye disease called Glaucoma. Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve due to excessive pressure on the eyeball, resulting in loss of vision. Marijuana has been shown to decrease the intraocular pressure causing the slowing of the disease progression and eventual blindness.
Epileptic Seizures
A study was conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University where an experiment was performed giving marijuana to rats with epilepsy. After experimentation, the result concluded that seizures stopped for ten hours. This showed that help has the tendency to affect the brain in a certain way that can ease epileptic symptoms in patients for a large window of time.
The study found that there is a cannabinoid in marijuana; Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which helps in controlling the seizures by binding itself to the brain cells, which regulates relaxation and slows down excessive brain activity.
Anxiety
Because of properties in marijuana which causes the brain to relax, people suffering from extreme anxiety can benefit from it. It relaxes brain nerves, lowers blood pressure, and produces calming effects in the brain, hence bringing down anxiety and paranoia. However, excessive consumption can actually reverse the process and make you more anxious, so consumption of cannabis for anxiety purposes should start at a low dose and slowly rise until the correct dosage is found for each individual.
Parkinsonβs Disease
Recent studies have shown that marijuana is beneficial to people who suffer from Parkinsonβs disease. This disease leads to involuntary tremors and shaking of body parts, stiff movement, memory loss, and muscle spasms because of the low level of dopamine production, a chemical that is responsible for muscle movement. Scientists have tested such patients with marijuana and found that the cannabis helps alleviate some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. The Marijuana causes the tremors to calm down by binding itself to Endocannabinoid receptors in our brain, which plays a part in offset of this disease.
Arthritic Pain
Marijuana is long known to help people ease from arthritic discomfort. Patients with severe arthritis are often prescribed medical marijuana as it relieves the patient from pain. It decreases inflammation and produces calming effects, which lead to sound sleep that patients with arthritis usually do not get.
There is a drug called Sativex, which is a cannabinoid-based painkiller. It is given in many hospitals and patients have reported a significant decrease in pain and improvement in their sleep.
PSTD
Marijuana is now officially approved in many US states to treat people suffering from PTSD in form of vaporized marijuana. the cannabinoids in marijuana help calm and regulate that part of the brain which is responsible for offsetting fear and anxiety. This helps regulate patients triggers causing a decrease in PTSD episodes.