Alternative Drug Therapy Approach Alleviates Cerebral Palsy Symptoms and Muscle Spasticity

Alternative Drug Therapy Approach Alleviates Cerebral Palsy Symptoms and Muscle Spasticity

Statistics based on medical research indicate that nearly 90% of cerebral palsy is related to brain injury that occurs because of no progressive disturbances (such as oxygen deprivation) during pregnancy. This results in the damage of brain cells that are responsible for muscle movement and control as well as other brain cell types. This condition varies in its severity depending on the treatment and therapy recommended by doctors and medical practitioners. Cerebral palsy is a motor disorder that affects the development of movement and posture permanently, that limits physical activity and it is often accompanied by epilepsy, disturbances of cognition, communication, behavior, perception and secondary musculoskeletal problems. Treatment using medical marijuana seems to alleviate the symptoms of different types of cerebral palsy.

Exposure to some viruses belonging to herpes group B and infections of the urinary and reproductive tract are known to double the risk of developing Cerebral Palsy in a preterm delivery. Less common cases of the problem occur due to lead poisoning, head injuries, and viral infections that occur very early in life. Though the condition is chronic, it is not a progressive condition and one of the most common types where there is excess muscle tone is the spastic type.

Medical Marijuana based drug therapy when administered at early stages and on an ongoing basis seems promising in reducing a majority of the disabilities associated with cerebral palsy. Treatment using cannabis seems to alleviate the symptoms of different types of palsy such as athletic cerebral palsy that leads to involuntary and uncontrolled movements in the affected muscles and ataxic cerebral palsy where children are extremely unsteady and shaky because the brain cells responsible for the sense of balance and depth perception are affected.

Those afflicted with cerebral palsy also benefit immensely from regular and early physical, speech, behavioral, and occupational therapy that can help them lead productive, independent, happy, and healthy lives. A combination of MMJ and these therapies can also help patients who develop resistance or addiction to other prescribed medications that also lead to heavy sedation.

The cannabinoid component in marijuana help patients reduces the spasticity in their muscles because the cannabinoids bind with the cannabinoid receptors in the body. This triggers the release of chemicals that act as muscle relaxants. This is the proposed mechanism that offers relief of spastic muscle control. Numerous medical cases where patients born with severe cognitive delays, epilepsy, total blindness and cerebral palsy have experienced and have reported various levels of relief with medical marijuana.

Why Is Chronic Pain The Most Prevalent Reason For Seeking a Medical Card?

Why Is Chronic Pain The Most Prevalent Reason For Seeking a Medical Card?

In the current era, there is a push towards individual states legalizing marijuana for medicinal use. At this point, 16 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized it and there are over 10 more states with it on the imminent horizon. Federally, it remains illegal and a Schedule 1 narcotic.

One of the ubiquitous reasons for legalizing medicinal marijuana is the debilitating condition of chronic pain. This is the number one reason in every state that has it legalized for usage, and in some states it is the overwhelming favorite. Why?

First of all, let us look at the sheer numbers for chronic pain. The Institute of Medicine came out with a recent study showing that over 100 million Americans (1/3 of the population) suffers from some sort of chronic pain. The cost exceeds $500 billion dollars annually between direct cost, lost work time, disability, etc. It's a mind blowing statistic.

There are two well known types of treatment for chronic pain that exist in the US - traditional and alternative. Traditional includes those treatments that are mainstream, typically reimbursed by insurance, and have significant peer reviewed research backing up their usage. Also traditional treatments often have FDA approval for their use, but not always.

Alternative treatments are those that are not typically reimbursed by insurance, and may not have a lot of research backing them up. This does not demean their potential efficacy for chronic pain, especially when used in conjunction with traditional treatments. It is simply a way of categorizing the two. Some alternative methods include holistic, naturopathic, acupuncture, biofeedback, herbal, and some still include chiropractic and massage in this category. This is changing as more insurance reimburse for them along with more research being available.

Patients end up with chronic pain for innumerable reasons. It could be a failed back surgery that only got rid of 20% of a patient's pain, or a condition such as peripheral neuropathy that has no surgical answer. A patient may have scleroderma or rheumatoid arthritis that entail diffuse pain that may or may not be responsive to narcotic medications.

One ubiquitous issue that is seen with chronic pain is narcotics. Most patients, if they are legitimate hard working individuals, despise taking narcotics. They hate having to take more to get the same pain relief (tolerance), and want to be productive, pain free, and able to stay away from a mind altering and addictive substance to do it.

It is not a bad thing to see such a large number of chronic pain patients turning to an alternative method of pain relief, medicinal marijuana. The only bad part about it is when illegitimate patients start using it (think the 18 year old faking back pain to get a medical marijuana card). The incidence of this happening is a very small number of the total.

With the sheer numbers of patients in the US with chronic pain, and the variety of reasons as to why these patients got to that point, means the pool of applicants for medicinal marijuana cards will be much deeper than the other reasons. Giving them an option that is non-addictive, natural, and legal will open up an avenue of hope and optimism than continuing the negativism of narcotic addiction and despair.

An Alternative Treatment for Tourette's Syndrome

An Alternative Treatment for Tourette's Syndrome

Statistics indicate that there are over 100,000 Americans who are afflicted with TS (Tourette's syndrome). This complex neuropsychiatric disorder that is characterized by involuntary vocal tics is of unknown etiology. While the severity of this problem varies widely among patients, research shows that the condition usually improves with age. Currently, there is no cure for Tourette's syndrome. However, research shows that medical cannabis can help people cope with the symptoms.

Investigators in the Department of Clinical Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Medical School of Hanover in Germany published their findings in the March 1999 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. According to their results, in an uncontrolled open clinical trial, a 25 year old male patient afflicted with Tourette's syndrome was successfully treated with one single 10 mg dose of MMJ. The severity of the vocal tic reduced from as high as forty one to a mere seven within just two hours after cannabinoid therapy.

A review of the experiment conducted shows that there is ample evidence to prove that cannabinoids are effective in the treatment of Tourette's syndrome. In the test conducted, the condition of the patient dramatically improved and this effect lasted for about seven hours in a single session.

This kind of scientific literature regarding several clinical trials now confirms the subjective experiences of patients who smoked marijuana using a reliable and valid rating scale for the first time. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled experiment, a single trial dose of medical marijuana was administered to a dozen adult patients afflicted with Tourette's syndrome.

The preliminary results presented by the researches again confirmed that there was an incredible improvement in the OCB (obsessive compulsive behavior) and involuntary vocal tics after delta 9 THC treatment when compared to the placebo. Furthermore, investigators concluded that not only was medical marijuana safe and effective in treating these symptoms of TS but also the test subjects did not report any cognitive impairment after it was administered to them.

The same results were again observed in a second randomized, placebo-controlled, randomized trial that involved twenty four patients this time. These patients were administered doses of ten mg of Medical cannabis on a daily basis over a period of six weeks. All the test subjects suffered no damaging effects on their verbal memory, recall, or learning. In fact, they experienced a drastic reduction in the tics that are characteristic of Tourette's syndrome. In October 2003, the summary of these findings were published in the journal, The Expert Opinions in Pharmacotherapy.

Study Shows Traffic Fatalities Drop in States with Legal Medical Cards

Study Shows Traffic Fatalities Drop in States with Legal Medical Cards

A new study was published recently showing that states with legalized medical marijuana actually have fewer fatal auto accidents. It appears that this may be because marijuana users often substitute the drug in lieu of drinking alcohol.

At this point in time 16 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana for various debilitating conditions. In the study the years 1992-2009 government data were used looking at traffic deaths in the 13 states that have passed medical marijuana and put in place legalization laws during those years. The data was obtained from the national household survey on drug use along with the national Highway traffic safety administration.

Interestingly, when looking at traffic deaths over that time, in the states who have medical marijuana legalized versus those that didn't, the study found that fatalities in car wrecks dropped by 9% in those states with legal marijuana for medicinal use. In looking further at the data the decrease was attributed largely to a reduction in drunk driving. In those states that have legalized medical marijuana rate of fatalities from car crashes due to our call dropped by 12% in crashes with high levels of alcohol drinking dropped by 14%.

The authors of the study noted that the overall reduction in traffic fatalities was similar to that seen when the minimum drinking age in the US was raised to 21. Traffic fatalities are the leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 5 and 34. So this data is especially intriguing in light of that as a significant amount of medical marijuana users are in the upper echelon of that age range.

In line with other studies the researchers also found that there was no increase in marijuana consumption by teenagers in states that legalized marijuana for medical use. One of the important things to come out of study is it shows that driving under the influence of marijuana is much safer than driving inebriated on alcohol. It is unclear if driving while stoned leads to impairment, however, driving under the influence of alcohol has definitely been shown to significantly deteriorate driving skills.

Being under the influence of alcohol at times increases recklessness and creates a false sense of confidence. When people are stoned they often realize it and don't have these issues. More marijuana smokers are likely to do so at home or in a private setting rather than out at a public event.

The Safety of FDA Approved Drugs Vs Alternative Medicine

The Safety of FDA Approved Drugs Vs Alternative Medicine

Research conducted on the safety of medical cannabis vs. the safety of 17 drugs that were approved by the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) based on the number of deaths caused showed that medical cannabis was the secondary suspect in 279 deaths as against 1,679 deaths where FDA-approved drugs were the secondary suspect.

While medical marijuana or MMJ was never reported as the primary suspect, the total number of cases in which the 17 FDA-approved drugs seemed to be the culprit was as high as 10,008. All the statistics and data were collected over a period of 8 years from January 1, 1997 to June 30th, 2005. The total number of death recorded in this period that were caused due to medical marijuana was astonishingly low (279) when compared with those caused by the FDA-approved drugs (11,687).

Of the 17 FDA-approved drugs that were chosen for this study, twelve of them were selected as they are commonly prescribed instead of medical marijuana. The other five FDA-approved drugs were randomly chosen as these are widely recognized and used by the general public. These 17 drugs included a mix of anti-emetics (drugs that are used to treat vomiting), antispasmodics (drugs that are used to treat muscle spasms), antipsychotics (drugs that are used to tract psychosis), and other popular drugs that are commonly used for treating Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), depression, narcolepsy, erectile dysfunction, and pain.

The number of deaths recorded due to the use of each drug was manually counted as the information supplied by the FDA included all the adverse events of which only a portion included deaths. A copy of the adverse events, these being defined as incidents where the use of drugs of any dosage including medical devices such as in vitro diagnostics or medical food, infant formula, dietary supplements, and other special nutritional products are suspected to have triggered an adverse outcome in a patient was also submitted.

The information was collected from five printed reports and 12 CDs with copies of the AERS (Adverse Event Reporting System) report for each and every drug that was a part of this study. A review of these AERS reports supplied by the FDA revealed that there were some deaths where medical marijuana was also a used at the time of death. This lead to more investigation regarding the use of medical cannabis, and cannabinoids as concomitant drugs in reported deaths.

Alternative Medicine As an Effective Migraine Treatment

Alternative Medicine As an Effective Migraine Treatment

A migraine is a chronic headache which is primarily caused by the spasm and narrowing of microscopic blood vessels which carries blood to the brain. The headache is severe and debilitating and can occur from once a year or as often as four times a week. It is characterized by nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, aura but most of all by a throbbing pain on one or both sides of the head. Several factors have been identified as triggers for a migraine attack such as stress, anger, caffeine, nicotine and hormonal imbalance.

Medical marijuana has long been proven to be an effective treatment for migraines. Its main component, THC, is best known for its analgesic and neuroprotective effects that can give relief to the pain brought about by a migraine attack. Because of marijuana's history of illegality, it has not been advertised as an effective migraine treatment alternative. People have also been apprehensive in using medical marijuana because of the wrong idea that smoking is the only way of using it. There are however other delivery methods that can be used such as vaporization, edibles which is done by infusing food with cannabis, or through tinctures taken sublingually (under the tongue).

Another thing that discourages people from using medicinal marijuana is they think that getting a medical marijuana card is complicated and expensive. That is where the many Denver medical marijuana dispensaries can be of help. They can provide patients with assistance in the entire medical marijuana card application process. Denver marijuana dispensaries have through the years sprouted all over the city despite the slump in economy. So big the medical cannabis industry has become that several measures and a moratorium have been passed to curb and control Denver medical cannabis dispensaries.

Medical cannabis being made legal should be a welcome development to migraine sufferers who avoid taking their prescription drugs because of the side effects the drugs have. The most common of these side effects are fatigue, sleepiness, racing heartbeat, nausea, difficulty in thinking and numbness. Painkillers which dull the throbbing pain of a migraine headache may cause long term addiction to it. It is regrettable that patients are not made aware of these harmful effects of prescription drugs and there are no alternative treatments presented to them.

Not only has migraine patients found relief for the pain that is characteristic of the condition, they also discovered that benefits of medical cannabis like improved sleep and reduced stress can prevent its onset and thus reduce episodes of migraine. The quality of life of migraine patients that prescription drugs can deny them is seen to have been improved instead by medical marijuana.

Learn When to Let Medical Marijuana Attorneys Handle Your Case

Learn When to Let Medical Marijuana Attorneys Handle Your Case

If you have gotten in trouble for possessing or buying medical marijuana, attorneys are ready and willing to help you. Just because many people do not yet understand this subject does not mean lawyers cannot help. You should learn a little about this subject before you seek legal help.

If you have been accused of illegally possessing this drug, even though you have a prescription, you should get legal representation. You might be surprised to find that even when you present proof of the prescription, you may be in trouble. This is simply because many police officers still do not understand the laws regarding this subject since they are constantly being updated. It is possible that a single trip to a lawyer will resolve the situation since you will find out how to prove that you were in the right all along.

If it is more complicated than that, you will be especially wise to retain the services of local medical marijuana attorneys. For example, if it turns out you are not allowed to be in possession of this drug, you will need to come up with a good defense. Maybe you thought you were cleared to possess it because your doctor said you were, but then failed to give you a prescription. If this is all a misunderstanding, you will need some help from local lawyers with experience in this field. This is because you could still face legal penalties despite it being a mistake, as this may be hard to prove on your own. A lawyer should be able to reduce the penalties you face, or possibly even clear your name entirely.

It may turn out that not only were you in the right, but you were wrongfully harassed by police officers who were quick to judge you. If you think you were unfairly discriminated against, you should contact medical marijuana attorneys. You may be able to sue the people attempting to charge you unfairly; especially if you can quickly provide proof that you had a prescription. Depending on the circumstances, your lawyer may advise you to avoid just sitting back and taking the charges, as you need to fight back to clear your name and make sure the officers do not make the same mistake to someone else.

If you find yourself in trouble with the law due to this drug, you should get a consultation with some local medical marijuana attorneys. You may find out you have a strong case. Not just any lawyer will do, though, as you need one with experience specific to your case.

The Distressing Problem of Urinary Incontinence Will No Longer Diminish the Quality of Life

The Distressing Problem of Urinary Incontinence Will No Longer Diminish the Quality of Life

A loss of bladder control that may occur due to several biological factors such as primary polydipsia, central or nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, polyuria, etc. is referred to as UI or urinary incontinence. While polyuria usually causes increases the frequency and urgency to urinate, it does not necessarily lead to urinary incontinence.

Colas, caffeine, and other stimulate the bladder. In men over the age of 40, an enlarged prostate or sometimes, even prostate cancer may be responsible for this condition. Radiation and certain types of drugs can also cause incontinence.

Many clinical trials conducted recently indicate that medical cannabis based cannabinoid therapy may reduce the incidence of the distressing, embarrassing, and rather common problem of urinary incontinence. This disorder has a profound impact on the overall quality of life and though it is a treatable medical condition, the underlying embarrassment discourages and prevents people from reporting this problem to medical practitioners.

There are several other diseases such as spina bifida, MS (Multiple Sclerosis), Parkinson's disease as well as spinal cord injury and strokes that may interfere with the function of the nerves in the bladder, thereby leading to an involuntary leakage of urine. These diseases trigger nerve damage, weaken the bladder muscles, and cause inflammation.

More than 1 in 10 Americans over 65 years of age are known to suffer from incontinence and women suffer a lot more than men with this problem. Investigators at Oxford's Centre for Enablement in Britain reported in the February 2003 issue of the journal Clinical Rehabilitation that compared to placebo in patients suffering from MS and spinal cord injury, self-administered doses of whole plant cannabinoid extracts dramatically improved bladder control. These initial findings were followed up by investigators at London's Institute for Neurology in a pilot and open-label study of medical cannabis or MMJ extracts for bladder dysfunction. A group of 15 patients with advanced multiple sclerosis were tested for the effect that medical marijuana had on their symptoms of urinary incontinence.

Investigators reported that following this cannabinoid based therapy; patients noticed that there was a significant decrease in the number, urgency, and volume of incontinence episodes. Additionally, their problem of nocturia and the overall frequency of the episodes also declined to a great extent. The study concluded that medical cannabis based extracts are not only safe but also an effective treatment method for patients with advanced MS who suffered from urinary incontinence and other problems. The results of this study were confirmed in a randomized, multi-center, placebo-controlled trial in 2006 involving 630 patients who were given oral doses of THC or medical marijuana extracts.

Medical researchers reported that from baseline to the end of treatment, the test subjects experienced as much as a thirty eight percent reduction in incontinence episodes. A 33 percent reduction in the severity of the same symptoms was observed in patients who were administered THC. The clinical effect of cannabis in helping patients cope with their symptoms of incontinence was clearly established. At the 2006 annual meeting of the American Urological Association, preclinical data presented also indicated that cannabis analogs can decrease bladder over-activity and bladder inflammation in animals significantly. Following these reports and the data collected, experts are now recommending the use of cannabinoids as potential 'second-line' agents for treating the problem of urinary incontinence in humans.

How To Find Medical Marijuana In Tucson

How To Find Medical Marijuana In Tucson

It was welcome news to many residents in Arizona when proposition 203 was passed in Nov. of 2011. Arizona joined California, Colorado and several other states when it passed a law giving qualified patients the right to consume, cultivate and utilize medicinal marijuana. In order to become qualified, you need to get a marijuana program certification from a Doctor.

You can find several certification centers open for business in Tucson. Just be on-guard of the costs. I paid $100 Dr.'s fee and $150 to the State of Arizona for program registration but have heard of places that are gouging new patients with high service prices. Don't bite. It should not cost more than what I've already written about.

You will have to submit a photo for your card (my Dr. took my picture and emailed it to me with her!), then proceed with the registration process.

My acceptance email notification from Arizona's Department of Health Medical Marijuana Program came within a couple of hours. Once you have confirmation, you're good to go. Just keep your paperwork handy until your card arrives in the mail.

OPTIONS FOR OBTAINING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Now that you have a card, you definitely want to use another source of meds other than your old black market street-dealer. As a card holder in Tucson you have a couple of options, but staying legal and avoiding legal problems is in and of itself a good way to go.

Nowadays (May 2012), you can tap into the growing patient-to-patient networks that exist in Tucson. The best and most reliable networks for sharing medicinal marijuana, edibles, cookies and candies are Med-Link Mobile and A.B.C. Arizona's Best Caregivers. You can find links at the bottom of this article.

Craigslist is also another source for making patient-to-patient connections so that you can potentially open the door for better selection and variety from the various patient-to-patient medical marijuana networks in Tucson.

Another option is to cultivate the medical marijuana in Tucson yourself. You can grow up to 12 plants somewhere in your house if it's locked and it's away from kids. If you don't have the room, time or interest to cultivate and grow your own medical marijuana, then you can exercise your option to have an Arizona Medical Marijuana Program Registered Caregiver grow it for you. This is usually somebody you know who is also a patient. This opens the door for some nice patient-to-patient strain growing sharing and variety in meds.

ELIMINATING YOUR DEPENDENCY ON TUCSON'S BLACK MARKET

Other than utilizing a patient-to-patient network like Med-Link Mobile to find medical marijuana in Tucson or growing cannabis yourself, your options are limited. The good news is that you can obtain medical marijuana safely and without worry of getting into legal trouble. You can call Med-Link Mobile/A.B.C. Arizona's Best Caregivers in Tucson and join a conscientious and caring group of growers, caregivers and patients.

Alternative Medicine: A Hot Topic in Massachusetts General Election

Alternative Medicine: A Hot Topic in Massachusetts General Election

This November, millions of Americans will vote in what is sure to be one of the landmark elections of our time. With weighty issues like the economy, the disappearing middle class, and LGBT rights being weighed in the Presidential election, other issues are still being played out in the more localized state elections. One of the most interesting local elections will be a proposed bill in Massachusetts to legalize medical marijuana.

After gathering the necessary number of signatures to include the bill in the November elections, the paperwork was filed at the Secretary of State's office on July 3rd.

A vote of "yes" would enact the proposed law eliminating state criminal and civil penalties related to the medical use of marijuana by patients meeting certain conditions. The drug will be produced and distributed by new state-regulated centers. In specific hardship cases, qualified patients will be allowed to grow their own marijuana for personal medical use.

What does this mean for prospective medical marijuana patients in Massachusetts should the bill pass? It means the Bay State will be open to the service of medical marijuana doctors and dispensaries. The bill allows up to 35 dispensaries throughout Massachusetts, capping at 5 per county. Marijuana will be grown and distributed by the state-regulated centers.

Presumptively, the dispensaries would follow a similar format to California's medical marijuana card system, where approval cards have been written into law since the Statewide Medical Cannabis ID Card Program of 2003. Especially in San Francisco, marijuana cards have seen widespread success is regulation, with over 20,000 cards issued.

However, this in no way means that anyone can get a card and walk into a dispensary for recreational drugs. A card is only issued after a written prescription given by a Medical Marijuana doctor and in most states can only be issued on the grounds of certain debilitating illnesses. Conditions that will be allowed under the proposed law in Massachusetts include Parkinson's, cancer, and other illness where marijuana can improve pain management, increase appetite, and have numerous other health benefits.

This vote comes off the heels of a recent decision by the Chicago City Council to decriminalize marijuana possession by reducing the punishment for carrying small amounts from an arrest worthy offense to a fine of between $250 and $500.

Massachusetts had the benefit of learning from 17 other states and the District of Columbia. The hallmark of this initiative is state regulation. Their proposal is in line with current standards in practice within the other states.

By submitting this issue to a vote, Massachusetts has joined the likes of 5 other states with currently pending medical marijuana legislation. This list includes New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri.

Medicinal Smoking: Worth the Effort?

Medicinal Smoking: Worth the Effort?

Medicinal marijuana is a universally controversial issue. Between its schedule I status and the widely existing live proof from patients that it is a real deal, you cannot make up your mind easily as to whether it is acceptable.

Many people who have used marijuana, illegally or by prescription, swear by its effects. It has been described as the single most potent anti-emetic known to man, which is a life-saver for cancer patients on chemotherapy. As with all chronic and/or terminal diseases, pain is a major issue. Marijuana is a powerful analgesic and this is a proven scientific fact. Patient use has claimed marijuana to be more powerful than other pharmacological alternatives that are often described as "do not even work".

The roadblocks on the way to legalizing and respecting medicinal marijuana are countless, some of which are biased and others come from a true place. Smoking marijuana is still considered "doing drugs" and is therefore socially unacceptable. It's human nature not to excuse anyone for crossing the line unless one is faced personally with the same problem, which is why many people continue to condemn medical marijuana use. Besides smoke, tablet, edible and vaporized forms have been formulated, yet, further research is required because several patients on smoked marijuana claim oral forms to be ineffective. Vaporized forms, however, have good feedback from patients but a lot must be done to ensure its safety. Religion also plays a part, but it is not to blame. Religion has not yet said a final say on this matter, simply because we did not yet get past society so we can get to discuss this issue within the walls of a religious estate.

With all these limitations, science was not spared. Research on medicinal marijuana is extremely limited and studies that include the effects of medicinal marijuana use on already terminally ill patients are minimal. Large pharmaceutical companies refuse to research a plant that produces something that will either be too expensive as a final product and won't sell well enough, or worse, will not even get final approval from institutions like the FDA. Add to that the sky-high cost of the experiments required to reach scientific facts and you get a final "No" from almost every research center and pharmaceutical company. However, because of the established fact that people have used this plant and have benefited from it greatly, it would be an unjustifiable bias to limit or discontinue research.

All those factors are why when people talk of a final decision on this matter, regardless of personal opinions, most people would agree with me that the whole issue is inconclusive to date. While several concerns have surrounded this approach of treatment, the only option left is to keep looking for that middle ground, which takes away people's pain without putting them at risks or compromising their overall health, at the same time, answering society's questions and addressing its logical concerns.

"It is time to have more light than heat on the subject" says Dr. Igor Grant, M.D.* and I personally couldn't agree more. While maintaining people's personal freedom of choice to follow their morals, religion and concepts, the effect on the whole society is also a concern, which is why we need to keep an open mind to science, religion and society alike.

*Professor of Psychiatry and Director of CMCR (Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research) at the University of California.

Do You Qualify for California Medical Marijuana

Do You Qualify for California Medical Marijuana

The use of medicinal marijuana or cannabis is not some modern, innovative concept. In fact, it was first used almost two thousand years ago in 2nd century China as surgical anesthesia by a physician named Hoa-Tho. Today, there are numerous experts and health professionals know that medicinal marijuana and its healing properties offer individuals relief from nausea, pain, and symptoms of a number of chronic health and medical conditions.

This includes chemotherapy, chronic pain, glaucoma, and HIV/AIDS just to name a few. If you have been considering the use of cannabis do you know if you qualify for California medicinal marijuana?

There are a number of ways to determine if you are a candidate for using marijuana for health reasons. Although opinions will vary from one expert or professional to the next, there is a consensus where the benefits of using this classification of cannabis is concerned. Medicinal marijuana from California can help to improve a person's overall quality of life.

A report entitled "Marijuana and Medicine" (Institute of Medicine) states that marijuana's cannabinoids benefit individuals by increasing their appetites while relieving nausea, pain, and vomiting. There are 17 states and D.C. that have legalized medical marijuana and the qualifying ailments and conditions will vary from one state to the next.

For the most part, the following health and medical conditions are fairly standard in every one of the states where medical marijuana has been legalized:

·        Cachexia

·        Cancer

·        Glaucoma

·        HIV/AIDS

·        Persistent muscle spasms

·        Seizures

·        Severe nausea

·        Severe pain

Although this seems like a rather brief list of qualifying conditions and health issues, a lot of this has to do with the fact that there are rigid restrictions in place for Medicinal marijuana in the state of California despite the fact that it is legal to purchase and use it.

Research that has been conducted in recent years has also shown medical marijuana to be effective for treating PMS and excessive weight loss. Additional studies and the findings that resulted from them have shown positive results when marijuana is used to relieve symptoms of the following:

·        Crohn's disease

·        Fibromyalgia

·        Migraine headaches

·        MS

·        OCD

Tourette syndrome

On a closing note, research regarding medical marijuana continues today and there may be proof that it will eventually be effective for the treatment of a number of other conditions and disease symptoms. Finally, you may soon see 7 states that legalize medical marijuana as they currently have legislation pending.