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Due to the widespread use of cannabis as a recreational drug, even in jurisdictions where it is illegal, its use in medicine is a controversial issue—particularly in the United States.
Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes since at least 2,000 years ago. Surviving texts from China, India, Greece and Persia confirm that its hallucinogenic properties were recognized, and the ancient doctors used it for a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, insomnia, headaches and as a pain reliever, frequently used in childbirth. The earliest recorded reference to medicinal marijuana is in the Ry-Va (ancient Chinese Pharmacopeia), believed to have been written in the 15th century BC. These ancient uses are well-documented, but are not proof that cannabis is a useful medicine.
Cannabis as a medicine was common throughout most of the world in the 1800s. It was used as the primary painkiller until the invention of aspirin. Modern medical and scientific inquiry began with doctors like O'Shaughnessy and Moreau de Tours , who used it to treat melancholia, migraines, and as a sleeping aid, analgesic and anticonvulsant.
By the time the United States banned the plant (the first country to do so), it was no longer extremely popular. The only opponent to the bill, The Marihuana Tax Act , was the representative of the American Medical AssociationThe American Medical Association (AMA) is the largest association of doctors in the United States. The goals of AMA include promoting better public health, helping sound medical legislation be passed, and raising money for medical education. The AMA runs.
Later in the century, researchers investigating methods of detecting marijuana intoxication discovered that smoking the drug reduced intraocular pressure. High intraocular pressure causes blindness in glaucomaeye cross-sectional view. Courtesy NIH National Eye Institute Glaucoma is an eye disease that is defined as a characteristic optic neuropathy, or disease of the optic nerve. Raised intraocular pressure is significant risk factor for developing glaucoma. patients, so many believed that using the drug could prevent blindness in patients. Many Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a war fought between 1957 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos See Secret War) and in bombing runs ( Rolling Thunder) over North Vietnam. See also the timeline of the Vietnam War. Fighting on veterans also believed that the drug prevented muscle spasms caused by battle-induced spinal injuries. Later medical use has focused primarily around its role in preventing the wasting syndromes and chronic loss of appetite associated with chemotherapyChemotherapy (pronounced keem-o-therapy is the use of certain drugs to treat disease, as distinct from other forms of treatment, such as surgery. Chemotherapy dates at least as far back as the use, by the Indians of Peru, of cinchona bark in the treatment and AIDSAIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome sometimes written Aids is a human disease characterized by progressive destruction of the body's immune system. It is widely accepted that AIDS results from infection with HIV, along with a variety of rare muscular and skeletal disorders. Less commonly, cannabis has been used in the treatment of alcoholismAlcoholism is an addictive dependency on alcohol characterised by craving (a strong need to drink); loss of control (being unable to stop); physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms; and tolerance (increasing difficulty of becoming drunk). 1820 Alcoholi and addictionAddiction is an uncontrollable compulsion to repeat a behavior regardless of its negative consequences. A person who is addicted is sometimes called an addict . Many drugs or behaviors can precipitate a pattern of conditions recognized as addiction, which to other drugs such as heroin and the prevention of migraines.
In 1972 Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D. reignited the debate concerning marijuana as medicine when he published "Marijuana Medical Papers 1839-1972".
Later in the 1970s, a synthetic version of THC, the primary active ingredient in cannabis, was synthesized to make the drug Marinol. Users reported several problems with Marinol, however, that led many to abandon the pill and resume smoking the plant. Patients complained that the violent nausea associated with chemotherapy made swallowing pills difficult. Smoked marijuana takes effect almost immediately, and is therefore easily dosed; many patients only smoke enough to feel the medical effects -- many complained that Marinol was more potent than they needed, and that the mental effects made normal daily functioning impossible. In addition, Marinol was far more expensive, costing upwards of several thousand dollars a year for the same effect as smoking a weed easily grown throughout most of the world. Many users felt Marinol was less effective, and that the mental effects were far more disastrous; some studies have indicated that other chemicals in the plant may have a synergistic effect with THC.
In addition, during the 1970s and 1980s, six US states' health departments performed studies on the use of medical marijuana. These are widely considered some of the most useful and pioneering studies on the subject.