13 Amazing Facts about Medical Marijuana
Though a lot of controversy surrounds it, medical marijuana is awesome. It’s an incredible alternative treatment option that more and more patients suffering from debilitating, chronic, and often fatal illnesses are starting to use. It really isn’t surprising that medical marijuana is increasing in popularity. Just consider these 13 amazing facts.
Table of Contents
- 1 1. It Can Treat Alzheimer’s
- 2 2. It Kills Cancer Cells
- 3 3. Smoking Cannabis Can Lead to Brain Growth
- 4 4. Legal Medical Marijuana Reduces Suicide Rates
- 5 5. Legal Medicinal Cannabis Reduces Overdose Rates
- 6 6. There’s No Need to Smoke It
- 7 7. You Don’t Need to Get Stoned
- 8 8. It Can Improve Lung Health
- 9 9. It’s One of the Best Epilepsy Treatment Options
- 10 10. It’s also Effective for Treating Drug-Resistant Multiple Sclerosis
- 11 11. It Can Help Our Troops
- 12 12. It Protects Your Brain
- 13 13. Marijuana Is One of the Most Pharmacologically Active Plants in the World
1. It Can Treat Alzheimer’s
There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, and few treatment options are available—most efforts are focused on prevention. And many studies have shown that medicinal marijuana can help prevent it. Both THC and CBD can positively affect the brain’s nerve cell function to reduce the chronic brain inflammation that causes Alzheimer’s.
2. It Kills Cancer Cells
Medicinal cannabis isn’t only beneficial in terms of reducing nausea and increasing appetite for cancer patients, it can also kill cancer cells, while leaving the healthy cells undisturbed. Brain, lung, breast, prostate, oral, pancreatic, liver, and blood cancers can be treated with cannabis.
3. Smoking Cannabis Can Lead to Brain Growth
Though many anti-marijuana activists will tell you that cannabis kills brain cells, it actually does the opposite. New studies show that medical marijuana actually promotes neurogenesis—aka, brain cell growth.
4. Legal Medical Marijuana Reduces Suicide Rates
Areas that have passed medical marijuana laws are now seeing a decrease in their suicide rates—by almost 5 percent. Most experts believe that the reduction is based on the fact that people who were self-medicating with alcohol have replaced this habit with the use of the safer alternative, cannabis.
5. Legal Medicinal Cannabis Reduces Overdose Rates
States that have implemented medicinal marijuana laws appear to be benefiting from a lower opioid overdose death rate than states that haven’t yet passed such legislature. Cannabis use doesn’t lead to fatal overdoses, and patients are switching from dangerous pharmaceutical painkillers to this more natural treatment option.
6. There’s No Need to Smoke It
Many patients don’t enjoy the harsh experience that comes with smoking—the smell, the taste, the dry mouth, or the coughing. But there are more enjoyable and health conscious ways to ingest your treatment. Making edibles can provide more long-lasting relief for chronic symptoms and eliminates the need for smoking completely. Vaporization is also another commonly recommended alternative.
7. You Don’t Need to Get Stoned
Worried about feeling too high to function? There’s no reason to avoid medical marijuana for this reason. There are hybrid strains on the market that will allow you to get the health benefits you need to treat your symptoms that won’t get you stoned at all. Just buy strains that are high in CBD and low in THC.
8. It Can Improve Lung Health
A shocking truth, I know. But medicinal cannabis has no link to lung damage. In fact, it can even reverse the carcinogenic effects of tobacco to improve lung health.
9. It’s One of the Best Epilepsy Treatment Options
Unfortunately, many epileptic patients do not find relief from typical pharmaceutical treatments—they’re pretty hit or miss. Medicinal marijuana can be used to prevent epileptic activity in the brain—often better than traditional drugs can.
10. It’s also Effective for Treating Drug-Resistant Multiple Sclerosis
Patients living with MS often do not find relief of their pain with traditional drug treatments, either. But many see improvements after ingesting medical marijuana.
11. It Can Help Our Troops
PTSD is a nasty symptom of war and many veterans suffer from it—severely limiting their quality of life. Medicinal cannabis can help regulate the system that controls anxiety and fear in the brain.
12. It Protects Your Brain
People who have strokes or other traumatic brain injuries, like concussions, can benefit from medical cannabis’s neuroprotective effects on the brain.
13. Marijuana Is One of the Most Pharmacologically Active Plants in the World
Ever wonder why medical marijuana is so beneficial to your health? It’s because it has over 400 different pharmacologically active chemicals!