Yes marijuana is good for your health. Medical marijuana that is. Today
there is increasing interest in the use of medical marijuana for treating
everything from cancer to menstrual cramps and migraine headaches. People
who wouldn't be caught dead using marijuana are now interested in medical
marijuana because it may be able to save their lives.Medical
professionals worldwide have used marijuana for millennia to treat a
variety of ailments. Modern medicine men are begrudgingly beginning to
acknowledge medical marijuana can aid in the treatment and cure of many
diseases.Earliest UsageMarijuana, or more properly Cannabis Sativa, has
been used for its medicinal properties for over 5,000 years. Its earliest
documented use is in China. In the 28th Century B.C. the Chinese Emperor
Shen-Nung prescribed marijuana for gout, beriberi, constipation, 'female
weakness', rheumatism and malaria among other ailments. In 2,000 B.C.
physicians in Egypt were prescribing marijuana for eye problems. In India
in 1,000 B.C. marijuana was being used as an anesthetic and an anti-
phlegmatic and Hoa-Tho, a 2nd Century A.D. Chinese physician is reported
to have used marijuana as an analgesic during surgery.Modern UsageToday
in many parts of India and especially in Ayer Vedic medicine marijuana is
used to treat a wide range of ailments. It is also used as a sedative, an
analgesic, an anti-hemorrhoidal and an antispasmodic.One might infer
marijuana is only used in 'backward' Asian countries with no knowledge of
modern medical practices, But one would be wrong. Napoleon's army used it
to treat burns, as a sedative and as a pain reliever. In the United
States in 1961 the National Institute of Mental Health did a study that
indicated marijuana could be used for epilepsy, infant convulsions,
treatment of tetanus, convulsions of rabies, treatment of depression, as
a sedative and hypnotic in relieving anxiety and has antibiotic
properties.Today physicians prescribe medicinal marijuana to stimulate
the appetite of AIDS patients, treat glaucoma and multiple sclerosis and
reduce nausea for cancer patients. The British House of Lords in a 2001
report stated marijuana could be used to treat migraine headaches,
schizophrenia, asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and general pain.
Doctors also acknowledge it can help to treat high blood pressure.Medical
Marijuana MovementThere is a major movement, particularly in California,
to make medicinal marijuana readily available to patients through
medicinal marijuana stores. California medicinal marijuana dispensaries
and medicinal marijuana clinics, many of which are run by medicinal
marijuana collectives and marijuana doctors, seek to make medicinal
marijuana available to patients with medical weed cards that legally
allow them to receive medical marijuana strains to treat a variety of
illnesses. Medical marijuana is truly becoming a herb for the healing of
the nation.