Marijuana Use: Understanding Benefits and Dangers - Essay Sample

Introduction

While various common medications reach the public after detailed development and testing processes, medical knowledge about the possible dangers and benefits of marijuana has gathered pace over its use. One in three Americans over twelve years have attempted cannabis (LEVINTHAL & HAMILTON, 2015). Medical scientists understand more of the negative impacts of marijuana than its ability to relieving specific symptoms. The basis of understanding of the difficulties ranges from clinical research on marijuana. Alongside obtaining financial bankrolling for their research, medical scientists studying marijuana must show their compliance with different state and federal regulations. Therefore, regardless of the recent discoveries about marijuana, most clinical experiments on the use of the drug are scarce. At the same time, clinical studies must be done towards determining whether medical marijuana is living up to its promise. Before the approval of the sale of any drug, the U.S Food and Drug Administration requires the passage of various clinical trials toward assuring its safety and effectiveness. These trials are carried out by qualified patients and healthy volunteers, and they give scientists the opportunity of predicting the ways drugs perform in the general population. However, many factors reduce the ability to carry out studies on marijuana and interpreting outcomes. The regulations surrounding research on marijuana affects investigators. For instance, the federal government considers marijuana as a schedule 1 drug that does not have current acceptable standards for medical use.

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In well-articulated clinical trials, the patients are assigned to treatment groups to overcome possible biases. The clinical trials are designed to eliminate the impacts of both the expectations of the researchers and patients about the results of the trial. A high-quality clinical trial also includes other factors that are not related to the tested drug but could affect the outcome of the treatment (LEVINTHAL & HAMILTON, 2015). All the clinical trials have the common characteristic of testing whether or not marijuana improves particular symptoms or whether they cure diseases. There is a need for extra treatment alternatives in improving symptoms and enhancing the quality of life. At the same time, there is also a need for more treatment choices in reducing the suffering among patients having chronic medical illnesses. Medical marijuana has the capacity of assisting patients having specific medical conditions in the regions where it is legal for prescription by licensed medical providers. Marijuana has a long tradition of medical use. The two derivates of the cannabis plant namely cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinoid delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are responsible for most of the effects (Gupta & Gupta, 2018). These effects include reduced muscle spasticity, eye pressure and analgesia. With the increasing existence of medical marijuana, psychiatrists are increasingly likely to experience patients using it or who will question them about it. This paper reviews evidence linked to using medical marijuana in treating patients with multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, glaucoma, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy.

Marijuana and Cancer

Kramer (2015) argues that over 30% of Americans develop cancer in their lives. Most will live with cancer, but two-thirds will eventually die, which has forced researchers into seeking medicine for preventing and curing diseases and also drugs that make life comfortable. People who have cancer and are using marijuana realize many benefits such as reducing nausea, subduing vomiting, relieving pain, soothing anxiety and increasing appetite. Clinical studies show that marijuana does not do all these things, but it treats different symptoms. Medicines that are based on specific chemicals found in marijuana are used in complementing standard medications and even treating patients who have had failed therapies (Kramer, 2015). Significant proof demonstrates that marijuana yields useful medicines, particularly for appetite stimulation, vomiting, and nausea. Vomiting and nausea happen whenever sensory centers located in the digestive tract and brain are stimulated. Most of the clinical studies that focus on relieving chemotherapy effects emphasize the ability of candidate compounds preventing or curtailing vomiting.

Scholars have examined different cannabinoids for their ability to suppress vomiting. Loss of appetite and wasting affects most patients of cancer. These conditions reduced the quality of life and fastening death. Depending on the cancer type, 80% of patients contract cachexia which is the loss of body tissue (Kramer, 2015). Cachexia happens due to HIV infection, and both AIDS and cancer patients have the same treatments for the condition. Marijuana is known for its ability to stimulate appetite because of the THC action. Cancer patients were taking THC experience a slow loss of weight and increased appetite. Both dronabinol and megestrol acetate have troublesome side impacts for some patients (Birdsall, Birdsall & Tims, 2016). The latter causes hypertension and hyperglycemia, while the former causes lethargy and dizziness. Given these disadvantages, medical researchers have focused on identifying better treatments for loss of body tissue. Gupta & Gupta (2018) provided a case study of a five-year-old girl who had Dravet syndrome that led to daily clonic seizures. Due to her recurring seizures, the girl failed to recover and had multiple motor and cognitive delays, and she required a feeding tube. Alongside her current antiepileptic drugs, she began adjunctive therapy with cannabis that was highly concentrated. The seizures reduced from fifty per day to three convulsions monthly. The treatment helped her stop using the feeding tube, start walking again, talking, and sleeping soundly.

Marijuana and Neurological Disorders

While regularly identified as spasticity remedy, marijuana is least mentioned concerning neurological disorders. Probably individuals with epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease or movement disorders obtain little advantages from marijuana, but it could be true for few patients with the conditions trying it out. Few clinical experiments have studied the impacts of cannabinoids or marijuana on neurological disorders' symptoms apart from multiple sclerosis (Maa, & Figi, 2014). For most of these experiments, the outcomes are minimal to be regarded as conclusive. Still, they are worth considering when exploring Huntington's or Parkinson's diseases. The defects cause movement disorders in the brain's nerve cells that control activities of the muscles. Injuries to these areas affect the motion of muscles in limbs, trunk and face. Anxiety and stress increase the severity of the movement disorders' symptoms. Apart from being diagnosed, the dystonia symptom is part of Huntington's disease. The inherited disorder manifests in the middle age, increases severity, and results to death in fifteen years of the experience. Some of the symptoms include uncontrolled movement of the muscles, dementia, and emotional disturbance. Patients could take drugs, including haloperidol and reserpine, in controlling psychological symptoms.

Given that stress and anxiety worsen involuntary movements in most patients having Huntington's disease, and that marijuana alleviates these feelings among users, some have called for its use in existing alternative medications. Cristino, Bisogno, & Di Marzo (2019) carried out a preliminary experiment of four people having Huntington's disease showed that one patient improved under cannabidiol impact. Depending on the restricted success, the scholars tried double-blind study for fifteen patients to prevent chorea. The study showed that the symptoms of the patients did not improve or worsen after cannabidiol treatment. Parkinson's disease affects over a million Americans. The symptoms of Parkinson's disease are tremor, impeded motion, muscular instability and rigidity. The single efficient drug for treating Parkinson's disease has many disadvantages, which has forced physicians into reserving it for patients with functional impairments. Cannabinoids react in the same neurological pathways that Parkinson's disease affects, which makes marijuana effective in treating the disorder (Noel, 2017). In summary, there is convincing proof of the roles of cannabinoids in movement. However, there is no clinical evidence for their importance in relieving symptoms of movement disorders. The existing experiments were carried out on a small population of patients and without considering the anti-anxiety effects of marijuana.

Currently, four million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, a number that is anticipated to increase with the aging population. Alzheimer's does not have any cure, and it progressively affects the nervous system that starts with loss of memory and changes in behavior. Presently, the therapies for Alzheimer's are restricted to relieving its different symptoms. On the same note, the two drugs in the form of tacrine and donepezil that increase mental functions for some patients do not stop the disease's progression (Noel, 2017). There is two use of cannabinoid treatments for Alzheimer's disease, namely stimulating the appetites of patients and improving their behaviors. Food refusal, caused by depression, is commonplace among Alzheimer's patients. Treatments that minimize antisocial behavior or agitation among Alzheimer patients are welcome. In one experiment, eleven patients with Alzheimer's were given oral THC for six weeks, which was felled by six placebo week (Volicer et al. 2016). The scholars identified that the drug gave important weight gain while reducing disturbed behavior without adverse side effects. Most patients were completely demented, with severely impaired memories.

Muscle Spasticity and Marijuana

Handling aching, stiff and cramping muscles is commonplace for 2.5 million people globally who have multiple sclerosis. Most of 15 million individuals having injuries to the spinal cord suffer the same symptoms that restrict movement, rids them of sleep and causes pain (Gupta, & Gupta, 2018). Even though the common medications minimize discomfort of patients, using them does not offer complete relief. The drugs used in medications result in drowsiness, weaknesses and related side effects that are intolerable. Due to this outlook, it is easy to understand why some individuals with spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis have identified relief through marijuana. In 1982, a survey among people having spinal cord injuries revealed that 21 of the 43 respondents attributed marijuana to minimize muscle spasticity (Gupta, & Gupta, 2018). Animal research has also shown that marijuana reduces muscle spasticity.

In another experiment, scientists identified that rodents are animated under the influence of small cannabinoids amounts, but less active whenever they receive larger doses. Most of the users of marijuana claim that the drug hinders movement. Regardless of the negative outcomes, the antispasmodic properties of marijuana are largely untested in clinics. Roughly 90% of the multiple sclerosis patients contract spasticity (Gupta & Gupta, 2018). Some individuals experience the condition as basically muscle stiffness while others endure the incessant cramps, ache, and involuntary contractions of the muscles that are debilitating and painful. Both THC and marijuana have been studied for their ability to relieving spasticity in small but thorough clinical experiments. A double-blinded experiment involved both unaffected and MS patients. The participants having MS believ...