10 medical facts you don’t know about ‘Marijuana’

People tend to forget that Marijuana is a plant which means it’s natural. It can be harnessed into becoming the most versatile herb in the world. Here are 10 medical facts you probably didn’t know about THE HERB that’s already being legalized in more parts of the world....

1. It can be used to treat Glaucoma. Marijuana use can be used to treat and prevent the eye disease glaucoma, which increases pressure in the eyeball, damaging the optic nerve and causing loss of vision. Marijuana decreases the pressure inside the eye when smoked, lowers intraocular pressure (IOP) in people with normal pressure and those with glaucoma. These effects of the drug may slow the progression of the disease, preventing blindness.

2. It may help reverse the carcinogenic effects of tobacco and improve lung health. There’s a fair amount of evidence that marijuana does no harm to the lungs, unless you also smoke tobacco, and one study published in Journal of the American Medical Association found that marijuana not only doesn’t impair lung function, it may even increase lung capacity.

3. A chemical found in marijuana stops cancer cells from spreading in the lab. Cannabidiol stops cancer by turning off a gene called Id-1, the study, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, found. Cancer cells make more copies of this gene than non-cancerous cells, and it helps them spread through the body. Studies suggest the compounds in cannabis could even kill cancer cells.

4. It helps decrease anxiety. Medical marijuana users claim the drug helps relieve pain and suppress nausea — the two main reasons it’s often used to relieve the side effects of chemotherapy. In 2010, researchers at Harvard Medical School suggested that some of the drug’s benefits may actually be from reduced anxiety, which would improve the smoker’s mood and act as a sedative in low doses. Beware, though, higher doses can increase anxiety and make you paranoid.

5. The drug eases the pain of multiple sclerosis. Marijuana may ease painful symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in May suggests. Jody Corey-Bloom studied 30 multiple sclerosis patients with painful contractions in their muscles. These patients didn’t respond to other treatments, but after smoking marijuana for a few days they reported that they were in less pain. The THC in the herb binds to receptors in the nerves and muscles to relieve pain. Other studies suggest that the chemical also helps control the muscle spasms.

6. It keeps you skinny and helps your metabolism. A study suggested that pot smokers are skinnier than the average person and have healthier metabolism and reaction to sugars. Even though they do end up eating more calories. Not only were the pot users skinnier, but their body had a healthier response to sugar.

7. Marijuana spurs creativity in the brain. My favorite part of the review; Contrary to stoner stereotypes, marijuana usage has actually been shown to have some positive mental effects, particularly in terms of increasing creativity. Even though people’s short-term memories tend to function worse when high, people get better at tests requiring them to come up with new ideas. One study tested participants on their ability to come up with different words related to a concept and found that using cannabis allowed people to come up with a greater range of related concepts, seeming ‘to make the brain better at detecting those remote associations that lead to radically new ideas’.

8. Soothes tremors for people with Parkinson’s disease. Recent research from Israel shows that smoking marijuana significantly reduces pain and tremors and improves sleep for Parkinson’s disease patients. Particularly impressive was the improved fine motor skills among patients. Medical marijuana is legal in Israel for multiple conditions, and a lot of research into the medical uses of cannabis is done there, supported by the Israeli government.

9. Weed reduces some of the awful pain and nausea from chemo, and stimulates appetite. One of the most well-known medical uses of marijuana is for people going through chemotherapy. Cancer patients being treated with chemo suffer from painful nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. This can cause additional health complications. Marijuana can help reduce these side effects, alleviating pain, decreasing nausea, and stimulating the appetite.

10. Marijuana can help people trying to cut back on drinking. Marijuana is safer than alcohol. That’s not to say it’s completely risk free, but it’s much less addictive and doesn’t cause nearly as much physical damage. Disorders like alcoholism involve disruptions in the endocannabinoid system. Because of that, researchers think cannabis might help patients struggling with those disorders Some people do become psychologically dependent on marijuana, and this doesn’t mean that it’s a cure for substance abuse problems. But, from a harm-reduction standpoint, it can help....

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