March 12, 2015 – The future of medicine rests on the fundamental right we all have to use things that spring from the Earth naturally as healing agents. Why should cannabis, used for at least 10,000 years by humankind to alleviate suffering, be excluded?

The politics of cannabis are exceedingly complex, and yet the truth is simple: this freely growing plant heals the human body – not to mention provides food, fuel, clothing and shelter, if only we will let it perform its birthright.

The human body is in many ways pre-designed, or as it were, pre-loaded with a receptiveness to cannabis’ active compounds — cannabinoids — thanks to its well documented endocannabinoid system.

Yet, Cannabis/marijuana is presently on the DEA’s Schedule 1 list. Since 1972, cannabis has been listed on the Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the most tightly restricted category reserved for drugs which have “no currently accepted medical use”. Opioids, stimulants, psychedelics and a few antidepressants now populate this list of substances that can put you in jail for possessing without a prescription.

The notion that marijuana has no ‘medicinal benefits’ is of course preposterous. Since time immemorial it has been used as a panacea (‘cure-all’). In fact, as far back as 2727 B.C., cannabis was recorded in the Chinese pharmacopoeia as an effective medicine, and evidence for its use as a food, textile and presumably as a healing agent stretch back even further, to 12 BC. [See Marijuana – The First Twelve Thousand Years]

When it comes to cannabis’ medical applications, cannabis’ ‘healing properties’ is a loaded term. In fact, anything that prevents, diagnoses, treats or cures a disease must be an FDA approved drug by law.

Let’s look at the actual, vetted, published and peer-reviewed research – bullet proof, if we are to subscribe to the ‘evidence-based’ model of medicine – which includes over 100 proven therapeutic actions of this amazing plant, featuring the following:

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Tourette Syndrome
• Pain
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Brachial Plexus Neuropathies
• Insomnia
• Multiple Splasticity
• Memory Disorders
• Social Anxiety Disorders
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Cancer
• Opiate Addiction
• Anorexia
• Bladder Dysfunction
• Bronchial Asthma
• Chemotherapy-induced Harm
• Constipation
• Crack Addiction
• Dementia
• Fibromyalgia
• Glaucoma
• Heroin Addiction
• Lymphoma
• Nausea
• Neuropathy
• Obesity
• Phantom Limb
• Spinal Cord Injuries
• Endotoxemia
• Myocardia Infarction (Heart Attack)
• Oxidative Stress
• Diabetes: Cataract
• Tremor
• Cardiac Arrhythmias
• Fatigue
• Fulminant Liver Failure
• Low Immune Function
• Aging
• Alcohol Toxicity
• Allodynia
• Arthritis: Rheumatoid
• Ascites
• Atherosclerosis
• Diabetes Type 1
• High Cholesterol
• Liver Damage
• Menopausal Syndrome
• Morphine Dependence
• Appetite Disorders
• Auditory Disease
• Dystonia
• Epstein-Barr infections
• Gynecomasia
• Hepatitis
• Intestinal permeability
• Leukemia
• Liver Fibrosis
• Migraine Disorders
• Oncoviruses
• Psoriasis
• Thymoma

Moreover, this plant’s therapeutic properties have been subdivided into the following 40+ pharmacological actions:

• Analgesic (Pain Killing)
• Neuroprotective
• Antispasmodic
• Anxiolytic
• Tumor necrosis factor inhibitor
• Anti-inflammatory
• Antiproliferative
• Apoptotic
• Chempreventive
• Antidepressive
• Antiemetic
• Bronchodilator
• Anti-metastatic
• Anti-neoplastic
• Antioxidant
• Cardioprotective
• Hepatoprotective
• Anti-tumor
• Enzyme inhibitor
• Immunomodulatory
• Anti-angiogenic
• Autophagy up-regulation
• Acetylocholinesterase inhibitor
• Anti-platelet
• Calcium channel blocker
• Cell cycle arrest
• Cylooxygenase inhibitor
• Glycine agents
• Immunomodulatory: T-Cell down-regulation
• Intracellular adhesion molecule-1 inducer
• Matrix mettaproteinase-1 inhibitor
• Neuritohgenic
• Platelet Aggregration Inhibito
• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A inhibitor
• Anti-apoptotic
• Anti-proliferative
• Anti-psychotic
• Antiviral
• Caspase-3 activation
• Chemosensitizer
• Immunosupressive agent
• Interleukin-6 upregulation
• Tumor suppressor protein p53 upregulation

Thanks to modern scientific investigation, it is no longer considered strictly ‘theoretical’ that cannabis has a role to play in medicine.

 

Sayer Ji article edited by Richard Sharp Original Source