Medical Use of Marijuana Essay

Plants significantly contribute to curing and treatments of various diseases in the healthcare industry. Marijuana is one of the plants prescribed to patients for disease treatments and cure due to its medical benefits. Marijuana is obtained from the leaves of the hemp plant. Its botanical name is known as Cannabis sativa, Cannabis ruderalis or Cannabis indica nonetheless; all are subspecies of Sativa. Cannabis originated from Central Asia as well as the Indian sub-continent during 200BC. The family name for Cannabis sativa is known as Cannabaceae. This is a small family comprising flowering plants and encompasses one hundred and seventy species in approximately eleven genera, including Celtis (hackberries) Humulus (hops), and Cannabis (hemp, marijuana). Celtis (hackberries) is the most prominent genus in the family and contains one hundred species (Borgelt et al., 2013). The common name for Cannabis sativa remains marijuana. It has become of a cosmopolitan distribution as a result of cultivation and has spread to different parts of the world including eastern Asia, America, and Africa. The plant appears naturally in several humid and tropical parts of the globe. Moreover, its usage as a mind-altering substance was documented through archaeological findings in prehistoric communities in Africa and Eurasia. It has spread throughout North Africa and Islamic empire from Romans and Classical Greeks.

Cannabis sativa has evidently been spread and used across the globe for ages due to the activities of the hunters and gatherers. It originated in Asia thousands of decades ago and had got its way into several areas of the globe, finally spreading to the United States of America during the start of twentieth-century after a long trip throughout both the modern worlds as well as pre-modern worlds. It reached in the south-west of the USA from Mexico through immigrants who were fleeing Mexico during the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and 1911. The people of Mexico were often blamed for marijuana smoking which persons believed led to crimes such as sexual harassment. Moreover, it was initially outlawed or forbidden in Utah and illegalized in twenty-nine states of United States by 1931. The first administrator of Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), Harry Aslinger took manifold steps to illegalize marijuana in all the states. As a result, the United States Congress decided to pass the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937; however, the debate was poorly attended. In spite of these laws seeking to ban marijuana, it is important to note that more than a half of the states in the USA have currently legalized medical marijuana with some legalizing even its recreational use after realizing its therapeutic benefits.

While cannabis may be an emerging area of study in the recent years of its medicinal purposes, the plant has been used traditionally across the globe by many countries such as China for several decades. Mainly, in the 6th century, it was used in relieving impediment, an inherited disease commonly known as painful obstruction (Bostwick, 2012). While cannabis is still currently used to treat pain, its usage can be traced as early as 3rd century when the famous Chinese physician Hua Tuo developed an anesthetic formula commonly known as Ma Fei San to relieve pain. In median ages, the plant was prevalently used in the middle east since wine was highly forbidden in Islam. It was used in traditional Arabic medicine to treat several diseases which were associated with pain. In the Middle Ages in Europe and other countries, cannabis was a religious or spiritual hallucinogen like in the case of India; however, it was still incorporated in the folk medicine. In 1900s marijuana used to treat many diseases and conditions such as tumors, jaundice, and cough. Captivatingly enough, medieval herbalists and physicians still warned people of using cannabis disproportionately stating that too much of it could cause barrenness and other injurious conditions.

One of the significant ingredients of marijuana is cannabinoids. These are chemicals related to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Marijuana plant contains more than 100 cannabinoids. Besides cannabinoids, its chemical constituents include approximately 120 compounds which are responsible for the characteristic of aroma. Other chemical components include a-Pinene, Linalool, Miocene, Limonene, a-Terpinolene, Trans-v-ocimene, a-Humulene, Trans-caryophyllene, and Caryophyllene. Other cannabinoids which are currently under investigation are tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) and cannabigerol (CBG). CBD operates in recital with THC, supplementing its medicinal effects and controlling its psychoactive effects.

There are several biological activities which have confirmed the effects of cannabis sativa as one of the most resourceful plants as far as medicinal values are concerned. Firstly, alcoholic excerpts of two different samples of Cannabis sativa have been tested for the activity on isolation-induced aggressive conduct and unprompted motor activities of mice, and on the corneal areflexia in rabbits (Maa & Figi, 2014). It also reduces insomnia and supplements THC's activities against spasticity and pain. A pretreatment with cannabinoids in mice closely tripled the heights of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in their brains which is a clear indication that it increases the effectiveness and action of other drugs.

Marijuana consists of more than 400 components and more than 50 pharmacologically active cannabis. The two most well-described cannabinoids in marijuana are delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). CBDs do not produce the psychoactive responses and appear to prevent specific effects of THC by operating as a contender on the cannabinoid receptors.

THC has got tri-cyclic 21-carbon structures which lack nitrogen but contains two chiral centers in the transfiguration. THC is very volatile and viscous oil with excellent lipid solubility but low water solubility. The main lively metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol is the 11-hydroxy-delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC), and the chief indolent metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol is the 11-nor-9- carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH) (Budney, Sargent & Lee, 2015). Dronabinol (THC, Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the primary source of pharmacological effects which is caused by the usage of sativa, is an agonist of both CB1 and CB2 subtypes of the cannabinoid receptors. Notably, it is obtainable on prescriptions in numerous countries.

Modern medicine is rapidly waking up to the enormous healing as well as health benefits of medical marijuana. Marijuana is currently used to manage and treat an entire host of psychological and physiological diseases. It is often used to treat general pain, stomach cramps, and muscle spasms. In the same token, the cannabidiol (CBD) chemical contained in marijuana helps in stopping the spread of cancer through terminating or turning off the Id-1 gene. CBD also help in treating several pathological conditions, for instance, psychosis, depression, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Cannabidiol (CBD) can as well protect the brain against alcohol poisoning, normalize the irregular heartbeat, improve the sensitivity of insulin, alter gene expression, and shrink the malignant tumors (Hazekamp & Fischedick, 2012). Similarly, cannabidiol (CBD) can counter some of the psychoactive impacts of tetrahydrocannabinol that makes some individuals dysphoric and anxious rather than euphoric and mellow. Currently, marijuana plays a significant role in treating and preventing glaucoma (eye disease) which raises the pressure in the eyeball resulting in the damage of the optic nerves hence loss of vision. Lastly, marijuana helps in controlling epileptic seizures and decreases anxiety when taken in low doses.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Cannabis Sativa is a plant cultivated for its flowering leaves and tops. Also known as hemp, it is a source of birdseed and medicinal products. The American public mainly supports the ratification of medical marijuana since it has got more benefits. According to several studies, about 84% of the citizens believe that it should be legally allowed for medicinal uses. Mainly, it has long been used to treat several individuals with pain-related diseases. Most of the ailments that have been treated by marijuana are those that make people suffer or make them terminally-ill. Examples include arthritis, glaucoma, and cancer. During cancer therapy cannabis has been used as the remedy for the symptoms. In glaucoma, several studies which involve the application of marijuana reduced the intraocular pressure and treating ailments. All administration methods, except the undeviating appeal to the eyes, gave out positive results where it minimizes the effects of the disease. On the same note, marijuana has been confirmed to reduce the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. This is a condition which arises when individual's immune system attacks tissues in their joints. As such, with proper research in future cannabis stands to be one of the medicinal plants since it has several compounds which are believed to be of great therapeutic effects.

References

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Bostwick, J. M. (2012, February). Blurred boundaries: the therapeutics and politics of medical marijuana. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 87, No. 2, pp. 172-186). Elsevier.

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