Summary: The Health Benefits Of Marijuana

Numerous research has stated that marijuana could help people who are suffering from HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Arthritis, Cancer, Epilepsy, glaucoma, and chronic pain. Pain works when something from the physical world affects a sensory receptor and sends that information to the brain. Nociceptors are pain inducing sensory cells that are found all throughout the body. When someone who has HIV/AIDS, one of the common symptoms is peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage. This damage is detected by the nociceptors, which send this information to the brain to be processed. The brain generates the feeling of pain through cognitive pathways. You interpret pain by thinking deeply about it. Marijuana could interfere with pain not by affecting the nociceptors, but by distracting your brain and shifting your focus from the pain itself.
When THC binds to CB receptors, it reduces the refractory period of the neuron, so the neuron fires at a higher rate. Many people feel creative with their ideas and most of the time lose track of those idea, because new ones always come in. When someone has HIV/AIDS and use medical marijuana as their medicine, the brain does not have time to think about pain, because it gets distracted by many different thoughts. Marijuana could also aid those who suffer from glaucoma. Glaucoma impairs the optic nerve in the eyes, which could lead to deterioration of sight and induce complete blindness. People with this disease feel intense pressure in their eyes, also known as intraocular pressure (IOP). This pressure is created by abnormal levels of fluid found in the aqueous humor. There was research done on rabbits that showed when HU-211, a synthetic cannabinoid, was applied to the eyes, the IOP was reduced significantly. The effect only lasted about 4 hours, but synthesizing non psychoactive cannabinoids like HU-211 could have tremendous impact on people suffering with