Medical benefits are only certain for cannabis
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine in the United States conducted a comprehensive assessment of more than 100 conclusions about the health effects of marijuana, including claims for both beneficial and harmful effects of the substance.
The study found that there was only enough evidence to support the use of marijuana in three medical uses: reducing nausea, vomiting induced by chemotherapy, treating chronic pain, and reducing spasms of multiple sclerosis.
"Indeed, most of the therapeutic reasons people believe for the use of marijuana medically have not shown beneficial effects from the plant," said Sean Hennessy, professor of epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the 16-person panel that carried out this review.
Among the uses for which there was limited evidence or no clear evidence were increased appetite, increased weight for HIV patients, the alleviation of ADHD in children, and the treatment of epilepsy.
Robert Wallace, professor of epidemiology at the Iowa State University School of Public Health and another member of the committee charged with reviewing more than 10,000 studies to draw conclusions about the current state of marijuana, said there had been an explosion in research published since 1999, Make them review thousands of research summaries. Pointing out that the majority of their report was about where there is irrefutable evidence of medical uses.
For example, the report found "compelling" evidence that cannabis can relieve some of the nausea and vomiting associated with cancer treatment, but this condition has been medically stable for a long time. For many of the indicators in the report, science has not been able to reach specific answers.
Certain risks
This extensive study showed that there are several confirmed risks of cannabis in general to human health.
Injuries and death
Evidence has emerged that driving during cannabis or marijuana use leads to high increases in the risk of car accidents. In countries where marijuana has been legalized, evidence suggests that children are at greater risk than marijuana. The use of cannabis can also harm the educational and social development of adolescents.
Psychological health
The use of cannabis is likely to increase the risk of schizophrenia, social anxiety disorders, and to a lesser extent, depression. Large-scale marijuana users are more likely to adopt suicide-related ideas than those who do not. People with bipolar disorder, who use marijuana, have almost daily symptoms of suicide more than non-users.
cancer
There is no evidence to support a link between smoking marijuana and cannabis and the types of cancer that are commonly associated with tobacco smoking, such as head and neck cancer and lung cancer. Evidence suggests that smoking marijuana on a regular basis is associated with chronic bronchitis and phlegm production.
Addiction
Evidence suggests that people who use cannabis in greater quantities are more likely to be addicted, and that young people who start taking it - most likely - have a lot of problems.
Nausea
There is conclusive evidence that narcotics, and marijuana-derived compounds, are useful for treating nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy.
Chronic pain
There is evidence to support the use of cannabis in the treatment of chronic pain, particularly convulsions associated with multiple sclerosis, and diseases of central nervous system disruption.
Broad controversy
This study, as well as the results of a comprehensive report, is part of the pace of marijuana reforms and is accelerating throughout the United States. Medical marijuana is now legal in 29 states, but recreational marijuana is illegal in eight states and in Washington DC.
Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States, with an estimated 22.2 million people using the drug in one month, according to a government survey of 2014.
Drug policy reform has also become the subject of international debate, while high-level medical organizations and some States are calling for the criminalization of illicit drugs. The Academies report is the first in 18 years to address this huge amount of physical effects of marijuana and is likely to fuel The arguments on both sides are further debated about marijuana.
While the paper is extensive, it is unlikely that the controversy will end on any number of treatments. One of the researchers who studied the therapeutic effects of cannabidiol (the main active ingredient in cannabis) on children with epilepsy: The findings of the researchers in this expanded study «conservative», and those conducted on epilepsy were «wrong».
"It's very valuable," said Oren Devinsky, director of the Langon Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at New York University. But he also said, "In science, I think that when you do a research review, you have to include all the evidence about the disease or presentation. "I do not think they did that with regard to the possibility of treating marijuana for epilepsy."
The report comes at an important time for marijuana policy worldwide, especially as drug policy reform is important in the United States and around the world. Less than one year ago, an international commission published a report in the Lancet journal calling for the non-criminalization of all narcotic drugs, after finding that the ban did not effectively combat drug abuse, addiction or organized crime. At the same time, , The first in almost 20 years.
The study is the most widely reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences since 1999, when the states of California and Arizona approved the first medical marijuana laws and the public debate about whether doctors should prescribe marijuana.
Some uses of hashish and marijuana
According to some previous studies, a very large number - up to more than 50 uses - is from the medicinal uses of cannabis or cannabis in general.
About 25 years ago, an expert in pharmaceutical science, West, a researcher at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, observed that local fishermen who smoked cannabis or drank rum made from leaves and stems of cannabis had an extraordinary ability to see in the dark .
This ability is what enabled these fishermen to navigate through their boats through coral reefs. West, as he wrote with a fishing boat crew on one dark night, said that it was impossible to believe that anyone could navigate a boat without having to use a compass, and without light in such treacherous places, as he put it.
Now, another scientific study has provided compelling evidence of the relationship between cannabis and improved night vision. The study revealed the mechanism of cannabis to improve night vision at the cell level. Finally, the findings of this study, e-Life, to treat patients with degenerative eye disease, such as retinitis pigmentosa.
Purely medical, there can be more than 50 benefits for cannabis or cannabis. It contributes to weight loss clearly (you may notice that the majority of cannabis or marijuana smokers appear thinner over time); this is because cannabis helps the body regulate insulin production, a hormone that has a strong burning effect on fats and sugars. From here we note that there is another benefit of cannabis is the prevention or regulation of diabetes.
Preliminary research suggests that cannabis may be an important treatment for some cancers. Cannabis also has the ability to treat depression, one of the most prevalent diseases in the West today. This explains the prevalence of marijuana smoking in the United States and cannabis in Arab countries, as they help to reset some receptors in the brain that restore normal moods.
Sometimes you need to take a less harmful drug to get rid of another, more harmful drug. Cannabis can help people get rid of their alcoholism, and despite the damage of cannabis smoking, it is not comparable to the damage caused by alcoholism.
Among other medical benefits of cannabis, it is a potential treatment for patients with autism. It can control the symptoms of epilepsy. It can help speed up the healing of broken bones, improve lung efficiency, slow progression of Alzheimer's disease, treat muscle cramps, treat arthritis, etc. Lots and lots.