What Makes Cannabis The Best Choice For Medicinal Purposes

Introduction

When you have a medical condition causing you pain or discomfort, you want to do everything in your power to relieve it.

With the introduction of cannabis-infused products and oils on the market, more people are turning to marijuana to ease their symptoms.

But what exactly makes cannabis so popular?

What Makes Cannabis the Best Choice for Medicinal Purposes

With so many different cannabinoids in the cannabis plant and many ways to ingest it, there's no shortage of options for medicinal consumers. The wide variety of possible treatments makes cannabis an ideal option for those who have tried other medications and still haven't found relief.

What makes cannabis the best choice for medicinal purposes? As mentioned above, CBD effectively treats seizures in people with epilepsy or Parkinson's.

It also has treatment potential for cancer—in March 2017, researchers published results from phase II clinical trials that showed reduced tumor growth in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive type of brain cancer that typically responds poorly to chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

The study showed that adding CBD oil to standard care delayed tumor progression by five months; six months later, they saw a reduction in size by 16%. That's not much compared with chemotherapy—but it is significant compared to placebo controls.

Other studies suggest that CBD may help reduce chronic pain symptoms by targeting TRPV1-receptors in our nervous system (known as “vanilloid receptors”).

These receptors respond to heat and capsaicin (the spicy chemical found in chili peppers) but are believed to be less likely than CB1 receptors (found primarily on neurons.)

Relatively low risk of side effects

Cannabis is a relatively safe treatment. Although there are several possible side effects, they are rare and generally mild. If you experience side effects, they will usually go away after a short time.

Cannabis has been used medicinally for centuries, so we have lots of data on how it reacts with our bodies in different ways. This makes it cheaper to use than other traditional medicines that have less research behind them or might cause more severe complications if they are misused by the patient or used incorrectly by the doctor.

Treats a lot of symptoms and conditions

The cannabis plant has been consumed for centuries to treat a wide range of symptoms and conditions. Over 50 diseases and disorders can benefit from medical marijuana use. These include:

• Pain
• Nausea
• Lack of appetite
• Anxiety

New treatments are on the way

Cannabis study is still in its infancy, but new studies are being published daily. These studies are leading to new treatments for a wide variety of ailments, including those that have traditionally proven difficult to treat.

And the treatments themselves are arriving so quickly that it’s hard to keep track of all the options on offer. One day you may be able to take a pill to control your seizures; the next day, you might find yourself rubbing cannabis oil into your gums.

Cannabis is poised for medical breakthroughs—the same breakthroughs we've seen with antibiotics and vaccines before—and it's only going to get better from here.

Conclusion

We can't say for sure what the future holds for medical cannabis, but we know that it has a bright future ahead. With more studies being conducted every year and new strains of marijuana being created to treat specific conditions, it's clear that we're just scratching the surface of this miracle plant's potential.