nancy busarelo's List: Marijuana

• Cannabis has been used as a medicine some 5,000 years, dating back to  ancient China.  The practice continued through to the 19th and 20th  centuries; in fact, between 1840 and 1900, more than 100 papers on the  topic were published in medical journals.  Known as Indian hemp in  those days, it was cited as an appetite stimulant, muscle relaxant, analgesic,  hypnotic, anticonvulsant and treatment for migraine and opium addiction.

• The fact that marijuana smokers experience mood lifts, increase in appetite, and sense of well being truly suggests that the benefits of marijuana are worth using and legalizing it.
• Investigators at Columbia University revealed that HIV/AIDS patients who inhaled cannabis four times daily experienced substantial increases in food intake with no impairment of cognitive performance and little evidence of discomfort.
• One of the biggest benefits associated with use of medical marijuana is the relief of chronic or neuropathic pain. The effect of medical marijuana treatment in HIV patients who experience neuropathic pain was highlighted in a study published in February 2009 in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. Dr. Ellis and colleagues found in the study that 46 percent of patients administered with medical marijuana experienced at least a 30 percent reduction in pain.

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• With the expansiveness that occurs with marijuana, the   subject may begin to notice infinite possibilities to   raise the quality of his/her life that would otherwise   have remained hidden from normal, defensive consciousness.   And feelings of health and happiness naturally lead   to hope, which of itself can be curative. (p. 49)

• Marijuana can reduce the nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting from the condition itself and the medications as well.
• Many obsessions or quick fixes to psychological problems can be eleviated by Marijuana as well. Many people eat because they're depressed. If the depression is treated, the obsession to eat should be gone as well.

• The first U.S. clinical trials in more than two decades on the medical benefits of marijuana confirm pot is effective in reducing muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and pain caused by certain neurological injuries or illnesses, according to a report issued Wednesday.

• ausea
• Marijuana has also been hypothesized to help with nausea induced by chemotherapy  and antiretroviral
• • "Marijuana...Syndrome"

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