23 Health Benefits Of Marijuana
Jennifer Welsh and Kevin Loria
Apr. 20, 2014, 3:03 PMAP/Damian Dovarganes
thematthewknot via FlickrMarijuana 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, according to the National Eye Institute:
"Studies in the early 1970s showed that marijuana, when smoked, lowered
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.
It may help reverse the carcinogenic effects of tobacco and improve lung health.
Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesAccording to a study published in Journal of the American Medical Association in January 2012, marijuana does not impair lung function and can even increase lung capacity.
Researchers looking for risk factors of heart disease tested the lung
function of 5,115 young adults over the course of 20 years. Tobacco
smokers lost lung function over time, but pot users actually showed an
increase in lung capacity.
It's possible that the increased lung capacity maybe  due to taking a
deep breaths while inhaling the drug and not from a therapeutic
chemical in the drug.
It can help control epileptic seizures.
AP/Damian Dovarganes Marijuana use can prevent epileptic seizures, a 2003 study showed.
Robert J. DeLorenzo, of Virginia Commonwealth University, gave
marijuana extract and synthetic marijuana to epileptic rats. The drugs
rid the rats of the seizures for about 10 hours. Cannabinoids like the active ingredients in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (also known as THC), control seizures by binding to the brain cells responsible for controlling excitability and regulating relaxation.
The findings were published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
It also decreases the symptoms of a severe seizure disorder known as Dravet's Syndrome.
CNN/WEEDCharlotte Figi has Dravet's Syndrome, and her parents are giving her marijuana to treat her seizures.During the research for his documentary "Weed,"Â Gupta interviewed the Figi family, who treats their 5-year-old daughter using a medical marijuana strain high in cannabidiol and low in THC.
Their daughter, Charlotte, has Dravet Syndrome, which causes seizures and severe developmental delays.
According to the film, the drug has decreased her seizures from 300 a
week to just one every seven days. Forty other children in the state
are using the same strain of marijuana to treat their seizures — and it
seems to be working.
The doctors who recommended this treatment say that the cannabidiol in the plant interacts with the brain cells to quiet the excessive activity in the brain that causes these seizures.
As Gutpa notes, a Florida hospital that specializes in the disorder,
the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Drug Enforcement agency
don't endorse marijuana as a treatment for Dravet or other seizure
disorders.
A chemical found in marijuana stops cancer from spreading.
crafty_dame via flickrCBD may help prevent cancer from spreading, researchers at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reported in 2007.
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.
The researchers studied breast cancer cells in the lab that had high
expression levels of Id-1 and treated them with cannabidiol. After
treatment the cells had decreased Id-1 expression and were less
aggressive spreaders.
In "WEED," Gupta also mentioned a few studies in the U.S., Spain, and
Israel that suggest the compounds in cannabis could even kill cancer
cells.
It may decrease anxiety.
Flickr/sergeant killjoyMedical
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 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 may increase anxiety and make you paranoid.Â
THC slows the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
REUTERS/Brian SnyderMarijuana may be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, a study led by Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute suggests.
The 2006 study, published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics,
found that THC, the active chemical in marijuana, slows the formation
of amyloid plaques by blocking the enzyme in the brain that makes them.
These plaques are what kill brain cells and cause Alzheimer's.
The drug eases the pain of multiple sclerosis.
AP/Matilde CampodonicoMarijuana 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 were in less pain.
The THC in the pot binds to receptors in the nerves and muscles to
relieve pain. Other studies suggest that the chemical also helps control
the muscle spasms.
Other types of muscle spasms could be helped too.
CNN/WEEDOther
types of muscle spasms respond to marijuana as well. Gupta also found a
teenager named Chaz who was using medical marijuana to treat diaphragm
spasms that were untreatable by other, prescribed and very strong,
medications.
His condition is called myoclonus diaphragmatic flutter (also known as Leeuwenhoek's Disease) and causes non stop spasming in the abdominal muscles which are not only painful, but interfere with breathing and speaking.
Smoking marijuana is able to calm the attacks almost immediately, as it calms the muscles of the diaphragm.
It lessens side effects from treating hepatitis C and increases treatment effectiveness.
ReutersCalifornia dispensaries have been the subject of federal raidsTreatment for hepatitis C infection is harsh — negative side effects include fatigue, nausea, muscle aches, loss of appetite, and depression — and lasts for months. Many people aren't able to finish their treatment course because of the side effects.
But, pot to the rescue: A 2006 study in the
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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