Marijuana Informative Speech

Plenty of people rule out marijuana as a derogatory thing that has no positives, I am here to tell you this is untrue and marijuana has plenty of health benefits, for example, marijuana slows the progression of alzheimer’s, slows the spread of cancer, and treat inflammatory bowel diseases such as crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This shows that marijuana has a reason to be used, not just for the enjoyment. Keep in mind that there are many more than three positive benefits of marijuana.

First off, how marijuana slows the progression of alzheimer’s. To understand how great this positive is, you must first know what alzheimer’s is and how it affects people across the world. Well, alzheimer’s is “progressive mental deterioration that
can occur in middle or old age, due to generalized degeneration of the brain” as described by Google. To dumb it down, alzheimer’s is happens in people who tend to be senior citizens and is the progression of your brain breaking down. This causes extreme difficulty when trying to think, understand, or remember something. People with alzheimer’s cannot do simple math and also cannot create new memories and recognize new or old things. Behaviorally, people with alzheimer’s become more aggressive and agitated. This leads to constant mood swings, many feelings of anger and discontent. Psychologically, those affected experience depression, paranoia, and hallucinations. To make things worse, many alzheimer’s people suffer from lack of appetite and restlessness. Currently, there are no cures but, marijuana and cognition enhancing medication can help improve symptoms for some time. Now, onto how marijuana helps slow alzheimer’s progression. In a 2006 study published in the journal of Molecular Pharmaceutics, it was found that tetrahydrocannabinol slows the formation of amyloid plaques. It does this by blocking the enzyme in the brain that makes them (this is good because these plaques are what kill the brain, causing alzheimer’s).

Secondly, how marijuana slows the spread of cancer. Once again, we must gain background knowledge on cancer to fully acknowledge how positive of an effect marijuana has on people with cancer. There are many types of cancer so to keep it short, we will focus on the overall basis of what cancer is. Cancer is uncontrolled cell growth, meaning the body cannot stop a cell from growing and new cells from being made. This is uncontrolled mitosis (asexual reproduction). This results in the destruction of body tissue and ultimately, tumors are formed. While some cancers may be less harmful than others, it is needless to say “this is something you do not want.” So, how does marijuana slows the spread of cancer? Well, the chemical cannabidiol turns of the gene(s) called Id-1 which is the gene cancer cells make more of than regular genes, thus helping them spread through the body. This was put to the test in patients with breast cancer cells with high expression levels of Id-1. Once the treatment was done, the cancer spread less aggressively and the Id-1 gene expression had decreased.

The final positive I am going to describe about marijuana is its ability to treat inflammatory bowel diseases like crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
And again, we must know what inflammatory bowel diseases are and what the do, in general. Inflammatory bowel diseases are simply the ongoing inflammation of the digestive tract. While this health problem may not be as serious as cancer and alzheimer’s, it to is something you do not want. Continuing to how marijuana help treats inflammatory bowel diseases. In a study by researchers from the University of Nottingham in 2010, found chemicals tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol interact with body cells that have a part in immune responses. So, how does it work? Tetrahydrocannabinol like proteins created by the body, increase the permeability in the intestines. The tetrahydrocannabinol in marijuana blocks these compounds, thus making intestinal cells bond together better.

These are only three positives of marijuana (but greatly positive) and there are many more. I chose this topic to make an essay on because many people who smoke medical marijuana (prescribed) get flack and are told many negatives but are not told the positives. Overall, marijuana while, yes having negatives, also has positives to be
known.