With each passing day, a lot of the negativity about marijuana is being proved increasingly wrong. As a result, the mainstream use of marijuana is gaining more and more popularity. There is a perfectly valid reason behind it too – marijuana has plenty of health benefits. Not only has it been legalized in many places, but doctors are prescribing the use of marijuana for medical purposes as well. As a result, medical marijuana dispensaries are seeing an increase in sales.
Globally Growing Popularity of Using Marijuana
Many American states (24 to be exact), including California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington D.C., have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes. In Australia, New South Wales may extend the use of medical marijuana to non-terminally ill patients, while Vancouver has recently issued a license to its first medical marijuana dispensary. Moreover, Macedonia could legalize the sale of medical marijuana in pharmacies as well. This would see the number of medical marijuana dispensaries and sales increase substantially.
Health Benefits of Using Marijuana
Like mentioned above, marijuana is being given the all-clear for medicinal purposes because it has a lot of health benefits. The following list consists of only a handful of the numerous benefits of using marijuana:
- It can be used to treat Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye disease which increases pressure in the eyeball, damages the optic nerve and results in the loss of vision. However it has been found that using marijuana decreases the pressure inside the eye and provides relief for Glaucoma patients, thus slowing the progression of the disease. - Improves lung health
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2012 found that the use of marijuana improved lung capacity rather than impair its functioning, as previously thought. Over 5000 young adults participated in a research to identify risk factors of heart disease. The results showed that compared to the damaged lung functioning of tobacco users, marijuana users actually had increased lung capacity. - It helps to speed up the mending of broken bones
A discovery which is both unexpected and exciting in equal measure. It turns out that cannabidiol undergoes chemical reactions with collagen, which results in faster healing of broken bones. - It may help fight cancer
Possibly the most astonishing and helpful benefit of using marijuana is that it may help in the fight against cancer. Researchers have established that using marijuana helps to treat cancer causing symptoms, and fight the side effects of chemotherapies. Researchers also treated breast cancer cells with cannabidiol, and observed that levels of Id-1 – a cancer causing gene – had decreased. CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta also reversed his stance on marijuana, mentioning that cannabis can also kill cancer cells. This is also a prime reason behind licensing medical marijuana dispensaries. - It helps to decrease anxiety
Users of medical marijuana often claim that it helps to relieve pain and suppress nausea, thus fighting back depression. - It helps to lose weight
On an average, it can be seen that marijuana users are much less stockier when compared to non-users. This is made possible because the insulin production in the body, as well as caloric intake, is better regulated and managed by cannabis.
Seeing as marijuana has so many health benefits, it is no wonder that so many places are legalizing the use of medical marijuana. The rate at which the medicinal use of marijuana is being recommended makes it only a matter of time until more and more medical marijuana dispensaries are licensed to meet the demands of the people.
