Clinical investigations of
the therapeutic use of Cannabis is more prevalent now than
in any time in history. In 1996 alone (the year
California voters became the first of 14 states to allow for
the drug’s medical use under state law), 258 scientific
journal articles published. In 2008, there were over
over 2,100 published scientific studies. There are now
more than 17,000 published papers in the scientific
literature analyzing marijuana.
Ailments
AIDS/Cannabis Research
A pair of clinical trials recently demonstrated that
smoking cannabis reduces neuropathic pain in patients
with HIV by more than 30 percent compared to placebo.
Cancer/Cannabis Research
Cannabis is know to treat the nausea associated with cancer
chemotherapy — scientists today are exploring the potential
role of Cannabis to modify disease.
Multiple Sclerosis/Cannabis Research
Clinical and reports of Cannabis' ability to reduce
MS-related symptoms such as pain, spasticity, depression,
fatigue, and incontinence.
Read about this study
Chronic Pain/Cannabis Research
Survey data indicates that the use of cannabis is common in
chronic pain populations and several recent clinical trials
indicate that inhaled marijuana can significantly alleviate
neuropathic pain.
For most of American
history, growing and using marijuana was legal under both federal law
and the laws of the individual states. By the 1840s, marijuana’s
therapeutic potential began to be recognized by some U.S. physicians.
From 1850 to 1941 cannabis was included in the United States
Pharmacopoeia as a recognized medicinal. By the end of 1936, however,
all 48 states had enacted laws to regulate marijuana. Its decline in
medicine was hastened by the development of aspirin, morphine, and then
other opium-derived drugs, all of which helped to replace marijuana in
the treatment of pain and other medical conditions in Western medicine.
More on
Cannabis in American History
