Marijuana in it's natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.

Marijuana is considered to be slightly less addicting than caffine and does not cause physical dependence.

Smoked marijuana and/or THC reduces muscle spasticity from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, and diminishes tremors in multiple sclerosis patients. Patients and physicians have also reported that smoked marijuana provides relief from migraine headaches, depression, seizures, asthma, insomnia and chronic pain, among other conditions and it could replace at least 10-20% of prescribed drugs now in use.

In 1995, based on thirty years of scientific research, editors of the British medical journal Lancet concluded that 'the smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health.

Tests done with marijuana have found that it has very little, if any effect on long term memory or learning abilities. Marijuana has been found to slightly increases alpha wave activity. Alpha waves are associated with meditative and relaxed states which are in turn associated with creativity. Among other effects, marijuana has been found to stimulate the immune system.

US military tests have shown that rats given synthetic cannabinoids were about 70% less likely to suffer brain damage after being exposed to a variety of nerve gases, including sarin. The cannabinoids worked both as a preventative measure and as an antidote. Marijuana has amazing healing effects and one of the lesser known abilitys of cannabinoids is that it can destroy cancerous tumors. In 1974, the US National Institute of Health commissioned researchers at the Medical College of Virginia to find evidence that marijuana harms the immune system. Instead they found that THC slowed the growth of lung and breast cancers, and of a virus-induced leukemia. Their results were hushed up by the US government, and no further research was allowed. However, the March 2000 issue of Nature Medicine contained a study from researchers in Madrid, who had destroyed previously incurable brain cancer tumors in rats by injecting them with THC.

Tests done with actual driving comparing road saftey and marijuana have shown that although it does affect visual skills and mental dexterity, it doesn't cause recklessness. Low doses of it actually make most drivers more cautious. Almost all the accidents where the driver has traces of marijuana in his or her system, also have traces of alcohol and does not nessesarily mean the person has smoked recently because traces can stay in the system for up to 30 days.

Although the belief that smoked marijuana contains 3 times more carcinogens than cigarettes, it actually contains about the same. This only applies to marijuana which is smoked normally. If its brought into the body in another way, such as vaporization or ingestion, almost all the harmful carcinogens are removed. Lung damage is very little if any at all because cannibis smokers, even chronic ones, smoke far less than the average cigarette smoker. Marijuana is one of the best dilators of the bronchioles in the lungs along with arteries and veins in the body, allowing more oxygen into the blood.

Marijuana and its direct effects have never caused a fatality. Tests have shown that to overdose, you would need to consume about 40,000 times as much Marijuana needed to get stoned.

--- Continued On Next Entry ---