History of Medical Marijuana.
 History. Medical cannabis (medical marijuana) refers to the use of Cannabis, THC and other cannabinoids, as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy.
Medical marijuana has a long history of medicinal use, with evidence dating back to 2000 BC. Although the extent of the medicinal value of cannabis has been disputed, it does have several well-documented beneficial effects. Among these are:
- Amelioration of nausea.
- Stimulation of hunger.
- Lowered intraocular eye pressure.
- General analgesic effects.
While cannabis for recreational use is illegal in most parts of the world, its use as a medicine is legal in a number of territories worldwide, including Canada, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Israel, Italy, Finland and Portugal.
In the United States, federal law outlaws cannabis use, however legislation for legal medical marijuana varies among states. Distribution is usually done within a framework defined by local laws.
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Medical Marijuana Myths & Facts.
Many people with varying intentions create common myths that have been instilled in the minds of many, below are a few:
Myth: Today's marijuana is more potent & harmful than ever before.
There is no medical evidence that shows high-potency marijuana is more harmful than low-potency marijuana. Marijuana is literally one of the least toxic substances known. High-potency marijuana is actually preferable because less is of it consumed to obtain the desired effect; thereby reducing the amount of smoke that enters the lungs and lowering the risk of any respiratory health hazards. Claiming that high-potency marijuana is more harmful than low-potency marijuana is like claiming wine is more harmful than beer.
Myth: Smoking marijuana causes cancer & serious lung damage.
The chance of contracting cancer from smoking marijuana is minuscule. Tobacco smokers typically smoke 20+ cigarettes every day for decades, but virtually nobody smokes marijuana in the quantity and frequency required to cause cancer. A 1997 UCLA study concluded that even prolonged and heavy marijuana smoking causes no serious lung damage. Cancer risks from common foods (meat, salt, dairy products, etc.) far exceed any cancer risk posed by smoking marijuana.
Myth: Marijuana contains +400 compounds proving it is dangerous.
Coffee contains 1,500 chemical compounds. Rat poison contains only 30 chemicals. Many vegetables contain cancer-causing chemicals. There is no correlation between the number of chemicals a substance contains and its toxicity. Prohibitionists often cite this misleading statistic to make marijuana appear dangerous.
Myth: Marijuana is a gateway drug and leads to harder drugs.
The U.S government's own statistics show that over 75% of all Americans who use marijuana never use harder drugs. The gateway drug theory is derived by using blatantly flawed logic. Using such blatantly-flawed logic, alcohol should be considered the gateway drug because most cocaine and heroin addicts began their drug use with beer or wine; not marijuana.
Myth: Marijuana is addicting.
Marijuana is not physically addicting. Medical studies rank marijuana as less habit forming than caffeine. The legal drugs of tobacco (nicotine) and alcohol can be as addicting as heroin or cocaine, but marijuana is one of the least habit forming substances known.
Myth: Marijuana use impairs learning ability.
A 1996 U.S government study claims that heavy marijuana use may impair learning ability. The keywords are "heavy" use and "may". This claim is based on studying people who use marijuana daily, a sample that represents less than 1% of all marijuana users. This study concluded that learning impairments cited were subtle, minimal and may be temporary. In other words, there is little evidence that such learning impairments even exist. The study concluded long-term memory was not affected by heavy marijuana use and casual marijuana users showed no signs of impaired learning. Heavy alcohol use was cited as being more detrimental to the thought and learning process than heavy marijuana use.
Myth: Marijuana is a major cause of emergency room admissions.
The U.S government reports that marijuana-related emergency room episodes are increasing. The government counts an emergency room admission as a marijuana-related episode if the word marijuana appears anywhere in the medical record. If a patient tests positive for marijuana because they used marijuana several days before the incident occurred, if a drunk driver admits they also smoked some marijuana or if anyone involved in the incident merely possessed marijuana, the government counts the emergency room admission as a "marijuana-related episode". This so-called marijuana causes emergencies statistic was carefully crafted by the government to make marijuana appear dangerous.
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