Stop Feeling Sick to Your Stomach: Medical Marijuana and Crohn’s Disease

Every few months, as more research on the beneficial effects of Medical Marijuana is released, we find new diseases and ailments that it can help treat. One we haven’t talked about so far is Crohn’s disease, and how studies of shown that Medical Marijuana can help dull or eliminate the symptoms of this chronic condition.

First, a quick crash course in what Crohn’s disease is. Crohn’s is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract, and affects the small intestine more than the large. It can be aggravated in many different ways, but it can lead to problems that include chronic diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and fissures in the digestive tract.

Most interestingly, it’s a disease that flares up from time to time, with patients often going long periods without experiencing a symptom before rearing it’s ugly head again. Because of this, many treatments involve taking steroids during the flare-ups in order to eliminate the symptoms and heal the intestine. However, because steroids can be habit-forming and many times are stronger than one needs, science has been trying to find a better solution to deal with this problem.

Which brings us to the Medical Marijuana study.

Original Published in the journal of  Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and then reposted on Medical Daily, an experiment was conducted to see the effects of Medical Marijuana on patients with acute Crohn’s disease, and the results were pretty shocking. 10 out of the 11 patients not exposed the placebo were weaned off of the heavy steroids used to commonly treat their disease, with medical marijuana having the exact same effects with nowhere near the level of side-effects.

Those are some incredibly promising results, effectively showing that Medical Pot could be a much safer alternative to the current steroid use the disease demands. Over and over again, we see evidence of Medical Marijuana’s ability to relieve the symptoms of diseases and conditions with no known cures. The more science behind the restorative properties of Medical Pot, the faster it’s likely to be approved, so we’re all for science continuing to push the limits of what marijuana can do.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on October 28, 2016.

Medical Marijuana Decreases Painkiller Use in the U.S.

One of the more interesting effects that the legalization of marijuana has had is the decreased use of painkillers in states where legal pot is now an option.

This is an interesting — if not unsurprising — trend, and there are plenty of pundits trying to debate what this means. In general, this seems like a positive step in the right direction towards pain management. Medical marijuana is non-habit forming, which means that unlike many pharmacological painkillers, there is no risk of becoming addicted to it. Addiction to painkillers has become a hot button issue over the last several years as there have been more and more instances of fatal overdoses, or of people switching to hard drugs (like heroin and meth) when they can no longer get their prescription in order to achieve the same pain relief.

Obviously, that is not a good situation for anyone, so if medical marijuana is helping cut down on those tragedies, all the better. And it goes to show that when given the option, people will pick a natural way to relieve pain/other chronic conditions than a pill.

Unfortunately, this also means the battle for medical marijuana’s widespread legality and acceptance may become more difficult. While these results would naturally make it seem like we should be giving more and more people access to legal pot to treat their medical conditions, this also adds additional hurdles. Many people still have a stigma against marijuana and its medical uses, and there are major pharmaceutical players who are not eager to see profits fall from painkiller divisions. They will fight tooth and nail to keep medical marijuana’s legality from spreading.

But with these results, it’s only a matter of time before progress marches forward, as people are going to demand medical marijuana more heavily as they see their friends in other states experiencing its benefits with none of the downsides of prescription painkillers. Hopefully, that day comes sooner rather than later.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on October 19, 2016.