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Pros and Cons of Medical Marijuana

The debate over the therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana is ongoing. More than 30 states in the U.S. allow for the medical use of marijuana. And a growing number allow recreational use.1 However, the federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance.2

 It also limits medical studies into the potential benefits of cannabis.

The arguments for and against the legalization of marijuana are hot topics. This article explains the pros and cons of medical marijuana and the scientific evidence.

A gloved doctor filling a prescription for medical marijuana

The Pros

Americans overwhelmingly support the legalization of marijuana. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, 91% of Americans support legalizing marijuana. Of those, 60% say it should be legal for medical and recreational use and 31% say it should be legal for medical reasons only.3

 

Several possible health benefits of medical marijuana have been proposed:

 
  • Nausea: Marijuana is effective in relieving nausea and vomiting. Studies have shown that cannabis can decrease nausea caused by chemotherapy and almost eliminate vomiting.4
  • Muscle relaxant: Marijuana can relieve the muscle tightness that is sometimes associated with multiple sclerosis and paralysis.
  • Appetite: Marijuana can help treat appetite loss associated with conditions like HIV/AIDS and certain types of cancers.
  • Chronic pain: Marijuana can relieve certain types of chronic pain, including neuropathic pain, which is caused by nerve damage.5
 

And arguments in favor of using medical marijuana include:

  • It’s safer: Marijuana is safer than some other medications prescribed to treat pain. For example, some people may use it instead of opioids for pain management. Opioids are highly addictive and are typically not recommended for long-term use in treating chronic pain.6
  • You can use it in many ways: You do not need to smoke cannabis for its benefits. Products such as cannabidiol oil (CBD), topical pain relief treatments, edibles, and other non-smoking applications are now available.7
  • You don’t need to get high: As studies continue, researchers are finding benefits in the individual compounds in cannabis. When these chemicals are isolated—such as CBD has been—they can offer treatment options without the “high” produced by the compound commonly known as THC.8
  • It’s natural: People have used marijuana for centuries as a natural medicinal agent with good results.

The Cons

Although marijuana has many benefits, there are still some downsides. Some of the arguments from those who oppose its use include:

  • Memory: Frequent marijuana use can seriously affect your short-term memory.9
  • Cognition: Frequent use can impair your cognitive (thinking) abilities.
  • Lung damage: Smoking anything, whether it’s tobacco or marijuana, can damage your lung tissue.10 In addition, smoking marijuana could increase the risk of lung cancer.
  • Potential for abuse: Marijuana carries a risk of abuse and addiction.
  • Accidents: Marijuana use impairs driving skills and increases the risk for car collisions.11
  • Illegal: Marijuana is illegal under federal law. The federal drug scheduling system classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), alongside heroin.2 This classification says that the substances have no currently accepted medicinal value
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Eating raw weed: Can it get you high?

Generally, people who use marijuana are either looking to get high or benefit from its reported medical uses. Does eating raw weed have the same effect as smoking it, vaping it, or consuming it in the form of edibles?

The effects of marijuana come from its active ingredients: delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and cannabigerol (CBG). These three ingredients are not naturally present in marijuana. They occur as a result of a chemical process called decarboxylation.

Because of this, raw weed may not produce the high that people usually expect from cannabis. That said, some researchers are still interested in the possible medicinal uses of raw weed.

Read on to learn about whether or not a person can get high from eating raw weed and about the possible medicinal effects of these inactive compounds. This article also discusses some other ways that a person can use cannabis.

 
Can raw weed get you high?
a man holding raw weed which you can get high from eating

Eating raw weed is unlikely to cause a significant high.

Researchers have now isolated more than 100Trusted Source cannabinoids. THC, CBD, and CBG are three compounds that may produce significant therapeutic effects.

However, these three cannabinoids do not occur naturally in high concentrations in raw weed. Raw weed contains these three cannabinoids with a carboxylic acid attached. Experts refer to these compounds as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinolic (THCA-A), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), and cannabigerolic acid (CBGA).

With exposure to light or heat from smoking or baking, the carboxylic acid group detaches. This process is called decarboxylation. Without the carboxylic acid group, these three compounds have the potential to cause a therapeutic effect. It is only then that THC can result in a high.

People are therefore unlikely to experience a significant high if they eat raw weed.

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What are the health risks of cannabis?

At the other end of the spectrum is the plethora of studies that have found negative associations between cannabis use and health. They are listed below.

Mental health problems

Daily cannabis use is believed to exacerbate existing symptoms of bipolar disorder among people who have this mental health problem. However, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report suggests that among people with no history of the condition, there is only limited evidence of a link between cannabis use and developing bipolar disorder.

Moderate evidence suggests that regular cannabis users are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts, and there is a small increased risk of depression among cannabis users.

Cannabis use is likely to increase risk of psychosis, including schizophrenia. But a curious finding among people with schizophrenia and other psychoses is that a history of cannabis use is linked with improved performance on tests assessing learning and memory.

Testicular cancer

Although there is no evidence to suggest any link between using cannabis and an increased risk for most cancers, the National Academies of Sciences did find some evidence to suggest an increased risk for the slow-growing seminoma subtype of testicular cancer.

Respiratory disease

Regular cannabis smoking is linked to increased risk of chronic cough, but “it is unclear” whether smoking cannabis worsens lung function or increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma.

A 2014 studyTrusted Source that explored the relationship between cannabis use and lung disease suggested that it was plausible that smoking cannabis could contribute to lung cancer, though it has been difficult to conclusively link the two.

The authors of that study — published in the journal Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine — conclude:

“There is unequivocal evidence that habitual or regular cannabis smoking is not harmless. A caution against regular heavy cannabis usage is prudent.”

“The medicinal use of cannabis is likely not harmful to lungs in low cumulative doses,” they add, “but the dose limit needs to be defined. Recreational use is not the same as medicinal use and should be discouraged.”

There is evidence that demonstrates both the harms and health benefits of cannabis. Yet despite the emergence over the past couple of years of very comprehensive, up-to-date reviews of the scientific studies evaluating the benefits and harms of the drug, it’s clear that more research is needed to fully determine the public health implications of rising cannabis use.

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What are the medical benefits of cannabis?

Over the years, research has yielded results to suggest that cannabis may be of benefit in the treatment of some conditions. These are listed below.

Chronic pain

Last year, a large review from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assessed more than 10,000 scientific studies on the medical benefits and adverse effects of cannabis.

One area that the report looked closely at was the use of medical cannabis to treat chronic pain. Chronic pain is a leading cause of disability, affecting more than 25 million adultsTrusted Source in the U.S.

The review found that cannabis, or products containing cannabinoids — which are the active ingredients in cannabis, or other compounds that act on the same receptors in the brain as cannabis— are effective at relieving chronic pain.

Alcoholism and drug addiction

Another comprehensive review of evidence, published last year in the journal Clinical Psychology Review, revealed that using cannabis may help people with alcohol or opioid dependencies to fight their addictions.

But this finding may be contentious; the National Academies of Sciences review suggests that cannabis use actually drives increased risk for abusing, and becoming dependent on, other substances.

Also, the more that someone uses cannabis, the more likely they are to develop a problem with using cannabis. Individuals who began using the drug at a young age are also known to be at increased risk of developing a problem with cannabis use.

Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social anxiety

The review published in Clinical Psychology Review assessed all published scientific literature that investigated the use of cannabis to treat symptoms of mental illness.

a man feeling depressedShare on Pinterest
Evidence to date suggests that cannabis could help to treat some mental health conditions.

Its authors found some evidence supporting the use of cannabis to relieve depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

That being said, they caution that cannabis is not an appropriate treatment for some other mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder and psychosis.

The review indicates that there is some evidence to suggest that cannabis might alleviate symptoms of social anxiety, but again, this is contradicted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine review, which instead found that regular users of cannabis may actually be at increased risk of social anxiety.

Cancer

Evidence suggests that oral cannabinoids are effective against nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, and some small studies have found that smoked cannabis may also help to alleviate these symptomsTrusted Source.

 

Some studies on cancer cells suggest that cannabinoids may either slow down the growth of or kill some types of cancer. However, early studiesTrusted Source that tested this hypothesis in humans revealed that although cannabinoids are a safe treatment, they are not effective at controlling or curing cancer.

Multiple sclerosis

The short-term use of oral cannabinoids may improve symptoms of spasticity among people with multiple sclerosis, but the positive effects have been found to be modest.

Epilepsy

In June 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the useTrusted Source of a medication containing cannabidiol (CBD) to treat two rare, severe, and specific types of epilepsy — called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome — that are difficult to control with other types of medication. This CBD-based drug is known as Epidiolex.

CBD is one of many substances that occurs in cannabis. It is not psychoactive. The drug for treating these conditions involves a purified form of CBD. The approval was based on the findings of research and clinical trials.

A study published in 2017 found that the use of CBD resulted in far fewer seizures among children with Dravet syndrome, compared with a placebo.

Dravet syndrome seizures are prolonged, repetitive, and potentially lethal. In fact, 1 in 5 children with Dravet syndrome do not reach the age of 20 years.

In the study, 120 children and teenagers with Dravet syndrome, all of whom were aged between 2 and 18, were randomly assigned to receive an oral CBD solution or a placebo for 14 weeks, along with their usual medication.

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Marijuana (cannabis): Good or bad?

According to the National Institutes of Health, people have used marijuana, or cannabis, to treat their ailments for at least 3,000 years. However, the Food and Drug Administration have not deemed cannabis safe or effective in the treatment of any medical condition, although cannabidiol, a substance that is present in cannabis, received approval in June 2018 as a treatment for some types of epilepsy.

a man holding a marijuana leafShare on Pinterest

Cannabis is being increasingly legalized in the U.S., but is it safe?

This tension, between a widespread belief that cannabis is an effective treatment for a wide assortment of ailments and a lack of scientific knowledge on its effects, has been somewhat exacerbated in recent times by a drive toward legalization.

Twenty-nine states plus the District of Columbia have now made cannabis available for medical — and, in some states, recreational — purposes.

A recent studyTrusted Source published in the journal Addiction also found that use of cannabis is increasing sharply across the United States, although this rise may not be linked to the legalization of cannabis in participating states. Nevertheless, this rise in use is prompting major public health concerns.

In this article, we look at the scientific evidence weighing the medical benefits of cannabis against its associated health risks in an attempt to answer this simple question: is cannabis good or bad?