Healing Herb? Marijuana Could Treat These 5 Conditions

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Introduction

It's now legal to use marijuana to treat certain medical conditions in 25 states, but the Food and Drug Administration has still not approved the marijuana plant as a treatment for any disease or health issue. That's because there haven't been enough large studies of the drug to show that its benefits outweigh the risks in patients who use it, said the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). And in order to gain approval, researchers also need show that marijuana is safer or more effective than existing treatments for certain conditions.
Nevertheless, scientists have good reason to think that the marijuana plant could be useful in treating a number of medical conditions. The active ingredient in marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), has been shown to increases appetite and reduces nausea. Another chemical in marijuana, cannabidiol (CBD), may decrease pain and inflammation and help with muscle-control problems, according to NIDA. Both THC and CBD belong to a group of chemicals called cannabinoids.
Live Science has rounded up the promising evidence that medical marijuana may help people with certain conditions. Here's what we found:

Nausea and vomiting in cancer patients

 

Nausea and vomiting in cancer patients

Cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy may develop nausea and vomiting as a side effect of their treatment. A 2015 analysis of three studies involving cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy found that nausea and vomiting completely stopped in 47 percent of patients using cannabinoids (THC or CBD), while the symptoms completely stopped in only about 20 percent of those who took a placebo. Another study, of 15 cancer patients who both took THC orally and smoked marijuana, found that most patients experienced reduced nausea and vomiting, compared to when they didn't receive these drugs.
Another study, of 600 cancer patients, found that the compound nabilone (a synthetic form of THC) was better at preventing nausea and vomiting than were several existing anti-nausea medications. However, more studies are needed to determine whether smoking marijuana works better than newer types of anti-nausea medications for this purpose, a 2016 review said.

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Author Bio

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Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer

Rachael has been with Live Science since 2010. She has a masters degree in journalism from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in molecular biology and a Master of Science in biology from the University of California, San Diego.

Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer on