Marijuana is an illegal substance which governments around the world have tried to prohibit and control unsuccessfully. Yet unknown to many, despite the popular harmful effects arising from its recreational overuse, Marijuana is said to have healthy attributes.
Dr. Mercola writes, (bold highlights mine)
No matter what you call it, cannabis and its range of varieties, including marijuana, is said to be among the safest medicinal substances known, and there are nearly 25 million Americans who have health conditions that medical marijuana could reportedly treat (and this figure only includes those living in states where its use is currently legal), according to The State of the Medical Marijuana Markets 2011-- yet fewer than 800,000 are taking part.
Dr. Mercola writes more about Marijuana basics,
Cannabis, or as it's more commonly known marijuana, has been used for its medicinal properties for thousands of years. It's been heralded as a "cure-all," revered for its healing properties that not only help relieve pain but also have been highlighted as a potential cancer cure.
Before I delve into the intriguing controversy surrounding medical marijuana, it's important to note that the plants referred to as hemp and marijuana are not the same. Both are members of the Cannabis sativa plant species, but they are two distinct varieties.
Marijuana typically is high in THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) -- the compound responsible for the plant's notorious psychoactive effect -- and low in CBD (cannabidiol) content. Both THC and CBD are known as cannabinoids, which interact with your body in a unique way I'll describe later.
What's interesting, however, is that CBD has been shown to block the effect of THC in the nervous system. So, marijuana plants are typically high in THC and low in CBD, which maximizes their psychoactive effects.
Hemp, on the other hand, is typically high in CBD and low in THC, as it is bred to maximize its fiber, seeds and oil, the items for which it is most commonly used. For more information on the difference between hemp and marijuana, here is a comprehensive article on the topic from the North American Industrial Hemp Council (NAIHC).
Ironically, despite their differences, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) classifies all C. sativa varieties as "marijuana," according to NAIHC.
This is why the United States is the only industrialized nation where growing industrial hemp is illegal. Well, technically it is not illegal, but growing it requires a permit from the DEA – and it is reportedly almost impossible to get one.
This is a shame for a variety of reasons, including:
Hemp is healthy: Hemp seeds pack a powerful nutritional punch. Two tablespoons of shelled hemp seeds contain about 11 grams of protein and 2 grams of unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids. And, as TreeHugger reported, hemp seeds have a " "perfectly balanced 1:3 ratio of naturally-occurring omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids...unlike other seeds and nutritional oils, such as flax..."
Hemp is good for the economy: The total retail value of North American hemp products was valued at around $400 million in 2009, but U.S. farmers are unable to benefit from this since hemp products are imported.
In the US, a desperate father secretly administered cannabis oil to his 2 year old son who suffered from brain cancer and found his son ‘cured’
Reports the Daily Mail,
A desperate father whose son was suffering from a life-threatening brain tumour has revealed he gave him cannabis oil to ease his pain. And he has now apparently made a full recovery.
Cash Hyde, known as Cashy, was a perfectly healthy baby when he was born in June 2008 but became sick shortly before his second birthday.
At first he was misdiagnosed with glandular fever before his parents Mike and Kalli, from Missoula in Montana, were given the devastating news he had a serious brain tumour.
The little boy had to have arduous chemotherapy treatment to reduce the growth, which had drastic side effects including seizures and a blood infection.
His distraught parents were repeatedly told he was likely to succumb to the illness because the condition was so bad.
After one bout of high-dose chemotherapy, Cash was so weak he could not lift his head and was too sick to eat any solid food for 40 days.
It was at this point that Mr Hyde decided to take action and go down the route of medical marijuana to try to help his young son.
This has been one of the unfortunate unseen side effects of the war on drugs: what could have been used to expand the horizons of medical advancement has been stymied by populist regulations which only have benefited some vested interest groups.
As Dr. Mercola points out anew, (itlalics his)
Even a quick review of the data suggests that cannabis deserves more than a passing glance as a potential treatment for various diseases. But in the United States, these studies are not being done.
According to a report by Americans for Safe Access:
"In the past three decades, there has been an explosion of international studies designed to investigate the therapeutic value of cannabis (marijuana).
However, drastic restrictions on research in the U.S. have meant that few clinical trials are being conducted domestically and none are being conducted as part of a sponsor-funded drug development plan aimed at obtaining Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the prescription use of the botanical plant itself.
Meanwhile, research teams in Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Israel, and elsewhere have confirmed - through case studies, basic research, pre-clinical, and preliminary clinical investigations - the medical value of cannabis ... "
It is easy to see why drug companies would want no part in funding research studies on a plant that can't be patented. If they were to discover that it could cure cancer, patients would be able to grow it themselves right in their own backyard ... this is not something the pharmaceutical companies would want you to know about.
Bottom line: War on Drugs has not only been political failure founded on unsound economics, it also impedes medical progress that would have saved many lives.
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