Running head: BENEFITS OF MARIJUANA

Benefits of Marijuana

in the Medical Industry

Joshua McLean

Nevada State College

in the Medical Industry

Medicinal marijuana is something that has become much more prevalent in today’s

society due to the fact that more research has been done on the topic than ever before. The

issue of marijuana not being used before was that it is currently considered federally

illegal. While many states have passed laws allowing it to be used legally for medicinal and

recreational purposes, at the federal level it is still illegal. While many people do enjoy this

use of medicinal marijuana and the products that come with it, many people remain

skeptical. People wonder whether the benefits of using this product are actually worth

using it. Many argue that medicinal marijuana is too new and dangerous for people to be

using. Studies are being done everyday to find out the benefits and consequences of using

things like medicinal marijuana. Many benefits have been found as a result of the increased

amount of testing done on it. Medicinal marijuana has been proven to be beneficial when

used on people dealing with different illnesses or diseases. It has been proven to help deal

with the symptoms of anxiety and depression, help the symptoms of many other diseases

and illnesses, and new studies have shown that medicinal marijuana and CBD may possibly

prevent some cancers and help patients going through chemotherapy.

Discussion

Marijuana is something that has always been a touchy topic when talking to people.

There are many people who are for it, but many people who are against it. This has been

due to the fact that it has been considered an illegal drug for the past couple of decades.

Studies from Lieblich, McCann, Salerno, Tyler (2019) were able to find things like

marijuana’s effect on things like people suffering from anxiety and depression. They had
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findings that the psychoactive substance in marijuana THC actually caused an increase in

anxiety, but the CBD in marijuana lowered the amount of anxiety in people. There was also

studies done on things like marijuana and CBD’s effect on other things like seizures.

Perruca (2017) was able to find that CBD from marijuana actually had the ability to lower

the chances, or even stop seizures in some people who used it. One of the biggest things

that marijuana has been used for is for people with cancer, or people going through

chemotherapy. Marijuana has benefits that extend to all different types of people dealing

with all different types of illnesses, diseases, or bodily issues.

Medical Marijuana Benefits and Consequences

Throughout the last couple of decades a lot of research has been done on the effects

of marijuana on people. There have been both positive and negative consequences that

come from the use of it. The medical use of marijuana poses many huge health benefits for

people suffering from different illnesses or diseases and the side effects that come from

them. While there have been many benefits that have been found through medicinal

marijuana, there have also been some negative consequences that can come from it. One of

the most obvious consequences from smoking marijuana is the effect that it can have on the

lungs. There have been findings that “smoked marijuana, in any form, can harm lung tissues

and cause scarring and damage to small blood vessels,” (Marijuana: How 2017). While this can

be a serious issue, there are alternative ways to take in marijuana. There are edible forms that

patients can eat if they do not like smoking it. With an increase in the amount of research done

on marijuana and technological advancements, there are becoming new and safer ways to take

this drug.
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Medicinal marijuana’s effect on anxiety. Anxiety is something that has become

much more prevalent in today’s society. Medicinal marijuana has become one way for

many people to deal with these things. It has been found that “THC in cannabis has been

shown to be more anxiety-inducing, while CBD has shown to be more anxiety-reducing”

(Lieblich,McCann,Salerno,Tyler 2019). THC is a chemical in marijuana that is responsible for

the psychoactive part of the drug. This means this is the part of the drug that gives the users the

actual “high”. CBD is a chemical in marijuana that is non psychoactive and is responsible for

things like reducing pain and inflammation. The CBD portion of marijuana has been shown to

actually reduce the amount of anxiety in people. The CBD portion of marijuana has been shown

to help many different types of anxiety. For example, “a double-blind randomized design study

of 24 people with social anxiety disorder found that one 600 mg dose of CBD reduced

performance anxiety and cognitive impairment in a speech performance” (Lieblich et al. 2019).

The effect of CBD stretched to things like performance anxiety. In a certain study it was found

that “in Washington, over 11,000 sessions recorded using the app StrainprintTM (which provides

users of medical cannabis a way to track changes in symptoms) demonstrated a 50% reduction in

depression and a 58% reduction in anxiety and stress following cannabis use with high CBD/low

THC levels,” (Lieblich et al. 2019). While THC has been proven to actually increase anxiety

levels, when mixed with a combination of high CBD and low THC it still has a positive effect on

people’s anxiety. Research also found that “results from studies investigating the administration

of a synthetic form of cannabis (Nabilone) found a reduction of treatment-resistant nightmares in

72% of 47 patients with PTSD,” (Lieblich et al. 2019). Anxiety that comes from PTSD is

something that many people in our country suffer from. A form of cannabis (marijuana) was able

to find a huge reduction in the nightmares that people with PTSD often suffer from. Medicinal
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marijuana has offered a way for people dealing with anxiety and depression a way to help lower

their anxiety and depression. Recent studies have also found that medicinal marijuana and

medicinal marijuana products also have a very beneficial use when used for people dealing with

diseases and illnesses.

Marijuana’s effect on diseases, illnesses, and the side effects from them. Diseases and

illnesses are something that have been around forever. As time goes on, doctors and researchers

find new ways to cure or deal with these diseases or illnesses. One of the latest finds is the use of

medicinal marijuana and medicinal marijuana products. One big use of CBD lately has been for

people dealing with arthritis pain. Arthritis is a disease that attacks the joints and can lead to

things like pain and stiffness. It was found that “approximately 54 million adults and 300,000

children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with arthritis or some other type of rheumatic disease

causing joint pain according to the Arthritis Foundation (AF)” (Freeman 2019). Arthritis is a

disease affecting millions of people in the United States. Things like CBD would be super

beneficial to all people who are dealing with the pain that comes with arthritis. It was found that

in “a study published in the journal Pain in December 2017 analyzed whether CBD could

prevent osteoarthritis pain and joint neuropathy. Based on their findings, researchers affirmed

that it did both because it decreased joint inflammation and served as a protectant to the nerves,”

(Freeman 2019). Studies have found that CBD is directly linked to helping deal with the pain

that can come from arthritis. Data and research show the link.

Another thing that researchers have found CBD and medicinal marijuana to be beneficial

for are people who suffer from seizures due to epilepsy. “For the first time, there is now class 1

evidence that adjunctive use of CBD improves seizure control in patients with specific epilepsy

syndromes,” (Perruca 2017). The study showed that when patients suffering from seizures due to
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epilepsy took CBD products, the amount of seizures they had either stopped or lowered

drastically. There was “ evidence concerning the potential anti-seizure efficacy of cannabinoids

reached a turning point in the last 12 months, with the completion of three high-quality placebo-

controlled adjunctive-therapy trials of a purified CBD product in patients with Dravet syndrome

and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. In these studies, CBD was found to be superior to placebo in

reducing the frequency of convulsive (tonic-clonic, tonic, clonic, and atonic) seizures in patients

with Dravet syndrome, and the frequency of drop seizures in patients with Lennox-Gastaut

syndrome,” (Perruca 2017). CBD was proven to be more effective in people suffering from

seizures than placebos. A placebo is a process in which someone is convinced that what they are

doing is going to help them, when in reality it should not. This often can lead to the body healing

itself due to the fact that it thinks it should be healing.

Another disease that CBD and marijuana have been proven to be successful in helping

with is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that attacks the brain of people

leading to the loss of memory and eventually the shutting down of their bodies. Sauer (2016)

research found that “a preclinical study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found

that very small doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a chemical found in marijuana, can slow

the production of beta-amyloid proteins, thought to be a hallmark characteristic and key

contributor to the progression of Alzheimer’s.” This means that when taken in small doses the

chemicals found in marijuana actually had a positive effect in stopping the proteins that lead to

things like Alzheimer’s disease. Sauer also found that in “Another study from the Salk Institute

in La Jolla, California has also found that tetrahydrocannabinol and other compounds found in

marijuana may reduce the amount of beta amyloid in the brain. Beta amyloid is a hallmark

characteristic of Alzheimer’s and is commonly thought to cause the neurodegenerative disease,”

and stop the chemicals and proteins in the brian that eventually lead to the disease.

Marijuana’s effect on cancer and chemotherapy. Cancer is a disease that is essentially

caused by messed up cells in the human body. Cancer can lead to death, and the best way to

combat it today is with chemotherapy. After a study, “Dr. Abrams concludes, “That being said,

what we do know is that cannabis is truly an amazing medicine for many cancer and treatment-

related side effects — nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia”

(Carlson Eugene n.d.). While there is no research currently about marijuana being able to cure

cancer they have found that medicinal marijuana has been very beneficial for people dealing with

the side effects of it. Studies have shown that “while cannabis is not a magic bullet for cancer,

there is preclinical evidence in animal models and cell lines (cancer cells grown in petri dishes in

the lab) to suggest cannabis might have an anti-cancer effect in humans,” (Carlson et al. n.d.).

There has been some evidence showing that cannabis may have some type of ability to prevent

or stop some types of cancer. There is currently no cure for cancer. Also, “studies have long

shown that people who took marijuana extracts in clinical trials tended to need less pain

medicine,” (Marijuana and Cancer 2017). The process of having cancer and going through things

like chemotherapy can be very painful and hard on the body. Marijuana allows these patients to

have a pain reliever that is something other than opioids. This offers an alternative to opioids

which are very addictive and easy to overdose on. One benefit of marijuana is that it is

essentially impossible to overdose from. To die from it a human would have to smoke an absurd

amount of weed in a super short amount of time. No human has died from a “marijuana

overdose”.

Conclusion and Future Studies

fairly new and requires more research around the topic. Researchers have gathered much

valuable information about it already which has led to many people being able to have the

benefits that come from it. People have been able to use things like CBD to help decrease their

anxiety. People with diseases and illnesses have been able to use medical marijuana to deal with

the symptoms that come from their disease or illness. This has ranged from things like seizures,

to arthritis, to dementia and alzheimers, to chronic pain. These products have allowed people to

be able to function and cope with the things that they are dealing with. Medicinal marijuana has

also been found to help people who are dealing with things like cancer and chemotherapy from

cancer. More research has been done and found that there is a future possibility that medical

marijuana could possibly be used to help prevent or stop certain forms of cancer. All of this

research has been done but there is still much to do. More research needs to be done on the

response of marijuana to different types of cancers. Also, more research can be done to find more

diseases or illnesses that marijuana and marijuana products can help with.

References

Freeman, J. (2019). Does CBD Oil Really Help Treat Arthritis Pain? Retrieved

from https://www.rheumatoidarthritis.org/cbd-oil/

Lieblich, S.,McCann, J., Salerno, L., & Tyler, J. (2019). Is cannabis an effective

treatment for anxiety disorders? Retrieved from https://www.anxiety.org/is-

cannabis-an-effective-treatment-for-anxiety-what-research-shows
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Marijuana and Cancer. (2017, March 16). American Cancer Society. Retrieved

from https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-

effects/complementary-and-alternative-medicine/marijuana-and-cancer.html

Marijuana: How Can It Affect Your Health? (2017, February 27). Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/health-effects.html

Perruca, P. (2017). Cannabinoids in the Treatment of Epilepsy: Hard Evidence at

Last? Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5767492/

Sauer, A. (2016). The Effects of Medical Marijuana on Alzheimer’s Treatment.

Retrieved from https://www.alzheimers.net/6-15-15-effects-of-medical-

marijuana-on-alzheimers/