The magic of the marijuana plant is becoming more evident as time goes by. Medical research has been expanded and anecdotes are pouring in about the benefits as the plant was once thought of as nothing more than a weed off the side of a road.
The physical, emotional and even spiritual benefits are now connected to the countless strains of the plant now gaining acceptance in the medical world, albeit slowly. The cannabis plant, and the terpenes is houses, have found to aid a plethora of illnesses and maladies.
Physical Benefits
Physical benefits of marijuana are far-reaching, widespread and long-term. Because of the way marijuana impacts the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) that expands the breath and relaxes the body, its potential for health and healing are enormous. The Entourage Effect, as it has become known, has now been proved to be a Godsend to many who had nowhere to turn from the danger of pharmaceutical outlets.
Marijuana, by its effect on the ANS, enhances both sides of the brain. Through increased Sympathetic action, left brain perception is heightened, while, at the same time, right brain reception is enhanced. More blood, and cleaner blood, is sent to the brain, as in the “fight or flight” reaction. And because of Parasympathetic dilation of capillaries, which signifies relaxation, the blood supply to the entire brain is increased. More blood means more oxygen and consequently clearer and broader thinking. When we are mellow and relaxed, marijuana is energizing and affords alertness, determination, and even strength.
When the system is hyper-aroused, as in today’s lifestyle, marijuana calms. The significance of this fact cannot be ignored. It explains the increased creativity reported as a part of the marijuana experience when both sides of brain processes are heightened. The term “expansion of consciousness” is explained physiologically as a “shifting of brain emphasis from one-sidedness to balance.” Marijuana ingestion has been shown to change the worried state by producing alpha waves, experienced as well-being.
When we ingest marijuana, the heart swells through capillary enhancement and is fueled more by more fully oxygenated blood, while, at the same time, its contractions and expansions are greater, allowing for stronger pumping action to the rest of the body. As the body’s workings can become more harmonious with marijuana, the functioning of the five senses can be noticeably improved.
The marijuana experience itself does not miraculously cure, but rather enables the body to cure itself. For a serious psychosomatic disease such as cancer, the benefits to be derived from marijuana cannot be overstated:
- The causal element of unconscious (repressed) pain can be ferreted out.
- The breath can be restored to fullness, thereby eliminating the built-up toxicity and, at the same time, enjoining balance throughout the whole organism. A depressed system is a weakened system, and since it works holistically, marijuana gives strength where weakness exists, and expansion and relaxation where there is contraction and nervousness.
- The more richly oxygenated blood that is in effect with marijuana can help to cleanse the poisons at the cellular level.
- And a broader perspective through activation of the entire brain leads to positive feelings and thus eliminates the usual and debilitating attitudes so common in cancer — helplessness, depression, fear, resignation and dread.
In a Costa Rican study, it was found that chronic marijuana smokers who also smoked cigarettes were less likely to develop cancer than cigarette smokers who didn’t use marijuana. Since marijuana (smoking, as well as ingestion by other methods) dilates the alveoli, toxins are more easily eliminated with cannabis use regardless of its method of application. Nicotine, on the other hand, constricts the alveoli, so it is likely that the use of cannabis neutralizes, or even overwhelms the constriction.
A 2017 national survey of more than 9,000 Americans found that 81 percent believed marijuana had one or more health benefits. Nearly half of these respondents listed “anxiety, stress, and depression relief” as one of these potential benefits,” reports Healthline.
Cannabis Can Help With These
Benefit of Marijuana For Pain
Marijuana is often used as a source of pain relief by easing inflammation. “German researchers found that marijuana-based remedies increased the number of people who reported a 50% or more reduction in pain relief,” says WebMD. “In a small study of 47 patients with Parkinson’s disease, Israeli researchers found a 27% improvement in pain with marijuana use.”
Benefit of Marijuana For PTSD
The US Department of Health and Human services approved a proposal to allow the study of medical marijuana in the treatment of PTSD in veterans. Some states already allow its use as a treatment, but this new proposal may possibly open the door to more positive stats and help veterans in need. In places like New Mexico, a diagnosis of PTSD is the main reason why medical marijuana is prescribed. THC can help calm the system and relieve anxiety and fear in the body.
Benefit of Marijuana For Epileptic Seizures:
A 2003 study showed that medical marijuana can help prevent epileptic seizures. It decreases the symptoms of Dravet‘s Syndrome which is a severe seizure disorder. In the documentary “Weed” the Figi family was interviewed about their 5-year-old daughter who was having 300 seizures a week. They started treating her with a high CBD strain that was low in THC. The severity of this syndrome causes many seizures and a lot of delays developmentally. Fortunately, now with the medical marijuana they were able to get her seizures down to around 7 per week. The prescription drug Epidolex is marijuana based and has been used to eliminate seizures.
Benefits of Marijuana For Anxiety:
In a 2010 study, researchers from Harvard Medical School found that those using medical marijuana can help reduce anxiety. This can help people who need a mild sedative in order to calm their nerves. Since marijuana can reduce pain, it makes a lot of sense as an effective anti-anxiety medicine. However, higher doses may actually increase anxiety and even make you paranoid.
Benefits of Marijuana For Cancer:
The CBD in marijuana has been found to help prevent the spread of cancer, according to researchers from the California Pacific Medical Center in a study they conducted in 2007. The gene known as Id-1 is shut off and since cancer will makes more copies of this gene then other health cells, it helps to slow the growth and spread of cancer.
Benefits of Marijuana For Alzheimer’s Disease:
Alzheimer’s disease can be slowed with marijuana, according to a study from Scripps Research Institute. Another study in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics back in 2006 found that THC blocks the enzyme in your brain that makes amyloid plaques. This plaque kills brain cells and essentially causes Alzheimer’s.
Benefits of Marijuana For Multiple Sclerosis:
Cannabis can ease the painful symptoms, according to a study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The study showed that 30 multiple sclerosis patients who struggled with pain from the multiple sclerosis but couldn’t find relief from other pain relievers in one study found that after a few days of smoking marijuana, they were in less pain.
Benefits of Marijuana For Arthritis:
Cannabis naturally reduces inflammation, while also promoting sleep. This can make a big difference in dealing with rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study done in 2011.
Benefits of Marijuana For Autoimmune Disorder – Lupus:
Systemic Lupus Ertyhematosus is a brutal disease where the body will start to attack itself from the inside. The compounds in marijuana can calm the immune system and help with many of the symptoms of Lupus. Marijuana can also help with the pain and nausea that come with this disease.
Benefits of Marijuana For Strokes:
According to Research conducted by the University of Nottingham, marijuana can help protect the brain from damage that comes from having a stroke. The study was conducted on mice, rats and monkeys.
Benefits of Marijuana For Brain Injuries:
There are studies that have suggested that cannabis has neuro-protective properties that can help the brain stay safe from trauma such as in the case of a concussion.
Benefits of Marijauna For Insulin Regulation:
Insulin is which regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. Insulin resistance is linked to a greater risk of diabetes. However, according to Mary Clifton, M.D, marijuana offers “less insulin resistance.”
Benefits of Marijuana For High Cholesterol:
Millions of Americans live with high cholesterol, which can increase the risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke. According to Dr. Clifton, “people who use cannabinoid formulations regularly are found to have lower overall cholesterol.”
Benefits of Marijuana For Lower BMI (If You Don’t Snack):
Despite the common feeling of having “the munchies” after using marijuana, cannabis users tend to weigh less and are less likely to be obese. They have a “lower BMI,” says Dr. Clifton. According to the Center for Disease Control. BMI (body mass index) is a screening tool used to identify individuals who are underweight, overweight, or obese.
Psychological Benefits of Marijuana
When we balance the Autonomic Nervous System, there is an effect on the mind that is both energizing and relaxing. In other words, we can think more clearly and more efficiently. Natural feelings of expansion that correspond to favorable perceptions, such as a sense of accomplishment, are experiences common to us all,
What makes marijuana beneficial is its ability to summon these states of well-being at will. The hundreds of millions of people around the world who consume marijuana to experience enhanced levels of life, do so specifically because of the great import they ascribe to being “high,” i.e., feeling better, happier, more expansive, and therefore more tolerant and compassionate. Whereas marijuana results in an altered state of consciousness, depressant drugs have been described as producing “altered states of unconsciousness,” allowing for relaxation without awareness.
When used over a period of time, cannabis allows us to witness our many subtle motives which, under normal consciousness, are usually not noticeable. With the expansiveness that occurs with marijuana, the subject may begin to notice infinite possibilities to raise the quality of his/her life that would otherwise have remained hidden from normal, defensive consciousness. And feelings of health and happiness naturally lead to hope, which of itself can be curative.
Marijuana also resolves conflict by de-emphasizing extreme aggressiveness. This unification or balance, however, may be responsible for changes in goals and values. It Is the healthy balancing nature of marijuana that is most beneficial to the individual and most threatening to modern society.
When it first became popular in the West, marijuana was imported mainly from tropical zones, where the sativa strain of cannabis is indigenous. This type of marijuana is known for its “cerebral high,” having little noticeable body participation. Few studies concerning the different effects of sativa vs. indica have been done, and with the emergence of hybrids, this has become more difficult. The answer is to find the strain that best fits your needs and the one that gives you the best feeling of wellness. Many connoisseurs of marijuana prefer the sativa high, although in the last decade it has become less prevalent.
The indica strain of cannabis offers more of the “body high.” Rather than freedom in the mind, the felt sensation is freedom of the body. This state more closely mimics deep relaxation. Thought patterns do not approach the clarity of thought of a “cerebral high.” While thinking may be diminished, more sensitivity to nonverbal experiences, such as music and color, comes into play. Participants often become quieter, since internal silence predominates.
Sativa highs are attributed to higher creativity, a more active lifestyle and general mental acuity. The savvy cannabis consumer knows which is better, achieved through experimentation. Smart users identify the best uses for each strain. There are hundreds in the United States to choose from and more are identified every day.
Spiritual Benefits of Marijuana
Meditation is a powerful tool for self-healing and cannabis has been used to facilitate the process for hundreds of years. The calming of inner confusion as well as insightfulness obtained from its use lead to a greater freedom from pain and disease.
Sigmund Freud developed and expounded on the understanding that we mechanically base our actions on programs devised throughout life, and many esoteric schools, ancient and modern, have taught the same. The opening of consciousness often leads to spiritual realizations such as the ability of a future elimination of disease is enhanced by the elimination of doubt and the expectations of doom. Universal spiritual values, so often released with marijuana, can break down this conditioned defensive mentality.
In Buddhism, it is the realm of nightmarish, insatiable hunger, which cannot be resolved unless or until the being attains to a less self-centered level. Deep within each of us, an essential need for a higher meaning of life waits to be awakened. Because of its ability to unlock this yearning and allow us a glimpse of the deeper reality, marijuana is feared by the establishment and loved by the user.
As we have seen, many an argument against marijuana refers to the non-competitive nature it engenders. During the Vietnam War, one of the major problems of our soldiers was their inability to accept the brutality of their own actions. Our young men encountered marijuana at every turn in Asia. The Vietnam War was the beginning of the expansion marijuana use in this country, since it was the first time a status and educational cross section of America was exposed to it. Their reaction was often not in keeping with the insensitivity necessary for war. Their conscience bothered them. Gaining higher values, such as compassion, cooperation and consideration, is a function of balance and is in opposition to a militaristic society. The more we uncover the spiritual element in our natures, the more sensitive we become.
People who try marijuana and reject it, do so usually because they feel uncomfortable and confused in altered, fuller consciousness. Those who embrace its potential, have a greater ability to heal and to achieve peace of mind.
Namaste.
