Medical marijuana

• Irv Rosenfeld’s story
• Lester Grinspoon, M.D.
• Marijuana chocolate
• Marijuana for depression & bipolar disorder
• Marijuana tincture
• Marijuana treats addiction
• Ryan’s story
• Samantha: A Case Study
• US Government’s medical marijuana patent

This outstanding film explains the medical use and working of the Cannabis Sativa plant, also known as marijuana or hemp. Scientists, patients, a family doctor, a pharmacist, an anesthetist and a medicinal Cannabis producer, give their views on this versatile plant and its medicinal effects.  40 min. (Source)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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At Second Clinical Cannabis Therapeutics Conference in Portland, OR (2002), Dr. Ethan Russo recounts major studies on the use of marijuana by different populations.
Beginning with the India Hemp Drugs Commission in 1893, Dr. Russo reports that every study came to basically the same conclusion –
Society has no cause for concern regarding the effects of Cannabis use on health or crime, and in fact, it has many positives – like medicinal value, spiritual traditions and productivity.

Watch the entire presentation: Long Term Use of Medical Cannabis.

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From The Endocannabinoid System as an Emerging Target of Pharmacotherapy:

Marijuana, or cannabis, is the most widely used illicit drug in Western societies and also the one with the longest recorded history of human use.  The popularity of marijuana as a recreational drug is due to its ability to alter sensory perception and cause elation and euphoria, most vividly described by the 19th century French poet, Charles Baudelaire, in his book Les Paradis Artificiels.

However, the ability of extracts of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa) to cause a variety of medicinal effects unrelated to its psychoactive properties had been recognized as early as the third millennium BC, when Chinese texts described its usefulness in the relief of pain and cramps.

In ancient India, the anxiety-relieving effect of bhang (the Indian term for marijuana ingested as food) had been recorded more than 3000 years ago.  The use of cannabis or hashish as a psychoactive substance reached Europe and the Americas through the Arab world in the 19th century.  During the same period, cannabis extracts had gained widespread use for medicinal purposes until 1937, when concern about the dangers of abuse led to the banning of marijuana for further medicinal use in the United States.

The rather turbulent history of marijuana and the recent resurgence of interest in its medicinal properties have been the subject of excellent reviews.

Added to this interest is the emergence of the endocannabinoid system, offering not only new insights into the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic actions of plant-derived phytocannabinoids but also novel molecular targets for pharmacotherapy.