Medical cannabis is growing in popularity. Don’t get me wrong, cannabis itself has always been quite popular. The people of the United States of America have wanted cannabis legal since the ill-informed, profit-driven, and racially motivated prohibition of this widely misunderstood plant began.

The federal government lists cannabis as a schedule 1 drug with no medical value and a high potential for addiction. It has been part of the controlled substance act or the CSA since 1971. Even today, despite the FDA approval of a cannabis-derived drug and multiple synthetic cannabis drugs, our government still supports archaic marijuana prohibition!

Just as the people didn’t care much for their opinion back then, they still don’t today. Even though the federal government continues its outdated stance on cannabis policy, states throughout the nation have taken matters into their own hands. Currently, 18 states have legalized adult-use recreational cannabis, and 37 states have legalized medical cannabis.

Power to the People

The federal government may continue with its misinformed stance on cannabis policy, but the people have had enough. Our nation was set up to give power to the people. The people have decided to use that power to voice their experiences with cannabis, defying the will of the federal government.

People like Andrea Wright are standing up for cannabis and speaking out, telling their story to the world. Andrea Wright was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis. Her health condition caused her early retirement at the age of 33. She told media sources,

“I had to stop work because the pain was too much. It’s been very depressing; I really enjoyed my job. I tried so many different therapies and managed to get my arthritis under control but for fibromyalgia, there isn’t anything, no magical pill.”

According to Andrea, she was taking as many as 40 tablets a day, including 14 prescription drugs ranging from sleeping pills to painkillers. Where these massive amounts of pills failed her, medical cannabis came in for the win. It has allowed her to reduce her dependency on prescription drugs, helped to control her pain level, and helped her to start working again. Andrea was quoted saying,

“I am able to work longer hours and go into the office. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now if it wasn’t for medical cannabis. It’s been life-changing.”

NIH Shows Interest in Cancer and Medical Cannabis Research

The National Institute of Health recently put out a tweet expressing their interest in research on cancer and medical cannabis. According to the NIH, one in four cancer patients utilizes medical cannabis to help manage the symptoms they experience associated with cancer. These symptoms range from loss of appetite and chronic pain to fatigue, depression, anxiety, vomiting, headaches, and more. Cancer patients aren’t the only ones finding some relief from medical cannabis, patients with other conditions are also discovering cannabis helps them too.

Countless political representatives have echoed the old-fashioned phrase that more research is needed, yet they block that research around every corner. The United States Department of Health owns a patent for cannabis. US-6630507-B1 is that patent number, and it’s entitled “Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants.” What a slap in the face to the American people for the government to stand there and continue to profit off of their suffering. If medical cannabis were legal in every state in our nation, would we have had an opioid epidemic?

A True Hypocrisy and One U.S. Patent on Cannabinoids in Medical Cannabis

If cannabis has no accepted medical value, then what is US-6630507-B1, and why does it state the following?

 “Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This newfound property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of a wide variety of oxidation-associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases. Cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and HIV dementia.” 

For cannabis, excuse me, marijuana, to not have any accepted medical value, they sure state a lot of medical claims in the patent the federal government holds.

Cannabis Could Be Just What you Didn’t Know You Needed

Cannabis is helping all kinds of people of all ages from all walks of life. From infants and children to young adults to senior citizens, people everywhere are finding a place for cannabis in their life. Using cannabis doesn’t mean sitting around all day smoking joints and not doing anything. That was just a picture painted by the past and the government’s prohibition Reefer Madness scare tactics.

Cannabis may help control pain, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite, menstrual cramps, PTSD, stress, anxiety, depression, and much more. Cannabis may not work for you, but it might work for someone else. There are many different things to consider when you are utilizing cannabinoid therapies to help manage symptoms you have from medical conditions. Are you taking medications? Do those medications interact with cannabis? What strains of cannabis have you tried? Have you tried the same strains from other growers? What is your method of consumption? These are just some of the factors that change the outcome of how cannabis may affect someone.

Most of the success stories in the news where people begin to manage or even control symptoms of medical conditions utilizing cannabinoid therapies are centered around cannabis oil. FECO or Full Extraction Cannabis Oil is a thick dark substance made from cannabis. It is all of the essential terpenes, cannabinoids, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in a concentrated form.

Not everyone experiences the relief they are looking for from medical cannabis. Some people have to search through different methods of consumption as well as try different varieties before finding something that works for them. While the thought has widely been that cannabis is for getting high, today, that focus has shifted immensely towards a train of medicinal thought.

A Shifting Tide

With cannabis helping everyone, from professional athletes and senior citizens to young adults, children, and infants, it’s no wonder it has raised the attention of so many people. After decades of being told something was wrong, that it was of the devil, that it would make you kill your own brother, to see it work miracles for people is a game-changer.

According to information on the web, the average age of a cannabis consumer is 37.6 years old. These aren’t kids running out buying cannabis like opponents of legalization suggested would happen. These are grown adults making a conscious decision to utilize cannabis as they see fit over other alternatives such as pharmaceuticals, tobacco, alcohol, or street drugs. If you’re curious about the effectiveness of cannabis, consider how many recovering addicts turn to cannabis to help them stay clean. 

This shows the amazing ability cannabis has and also shows an endless potential it could have should factual, credible research be allowed to take place openly regarding medical cannabis.

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