If you had the power to snap your fingers and legalize marijuana in all 50 states…
Would you do it?
Before you decide — and before you cast your vote at the end of today’s essay — I’d like to bring you up to speed on the latest research around medical marijuana.
Not only could this information help you decide where you stand on this controversial issue…
But it could help you earn enormous profits as this market continues to evolve.
Serious Business
In yesterday’s article Matt provided you with a light-hearted take on one aspect of this industry…
But today, I’m going to focus on a more serious side to the marijuana market.
You see, up until very recently, marijuana has primarily been legalized for medical use only. In other words, very few states have legalized it for recreational use.
Even still, many assume that medical marijuana “patients” are simply using these looser laws as a legal way to “get high.”
However, the drug’s new legal status has opened the doors for researchers to begin studying the effectiveness of marijuana as a treatment for a variety of diseases…
And today I’ll take you behind the scenes and show the findings of some of these studies.
More specifically, I’m going to show you how marijuana is already demonstrating tremendous potential for treating some today’s most serious diseases…
Beating Chronic Pain
According to a 2012 study from the National Institute of Health, roughly 11% of U.S. adults suffer from chronic pain.
That means 25.3 million people suffer from some form of pain, every single day, for at least three months.
This pain could come from injury or infection. Other times, it has no known origin.
To date, doctors have either prescribed ineffective over-the-counter treatments…
Or worse yet, prescribed potentially addictive opioid-based pain medications like Vicodin or Oxycodone.
However, since the beginnings of marijuana legalization, scientists have conducted more than 45 studies on the effectiveness of marijuana on treating patients with chronic pain…
And the vast majority of those studies showed an improvement in pain relief compared to traditional pain medications.
Furthermore, the potential for marijuana addiction and abuse is much lower than with traditional pharmaceuticals.
Cannabis Combating Cancer?
Nearly 15 million people are living with some form of cancer in America today.
Current treatment options are less than ideal:
Surgery can take a tremendous toll on the body and lead to chronic pain…
While chemotherapy often leads to a loss of energy and appetite.
Time and again, however, marijuana has been proven to combat the effects of both — giving patients relief from the pain of surgery as well as enhancing their mood and increasing their appetite.
On top of that, laboratory studies performed on animal and human cells show that THC, and other chemicals associated with marijuana, might actually slow the progression of certain types of tumors…
More specifically, brain and breast cancer.
Unfortunately, no clinical studies have been performed with humans yet, but we imagine those are forthcoming.
Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, is a debilitating neurological disease…
While symptoms start out fairly mild, they often evolve into something much more severe…
MS patients can end up bedridden and unable to walk or move due to the muscle spasms and stiffness that accompany the disease.
Unfortunately, there’s no known cure.
However, in a 2012 study, researchers found that cannabis extract “significantly reduced muscle stiffness and other MS symptoms.”
And a smaller study found that smoking marijuana “worked better than a placebo in reducing both spasticity and pain in treatment-resistant participants.”
In fact, a drug produced by GW Pharmaceutical (GWPH) and marketed by Bayer (BAYN) called Sativex is currently on the market in 24 countries to help treat MS.
Sativex is produced directly from cannabis extract.
Unfortunately, it’s not currently approved for treatment of the disease in the United States.
Where Do YOU Stand Now?
At the beginning of today’s article, I asked you what you would do if you had the power to legalize marijuana nationwide.
After hearing about some of the studies currently taking place…
And the impact marijuana can have on many of today’s leading diseases…
I’d like you to weigh in and let us know what you think.
Click here to take this quick poll now »
Best Regards,
Founder
Crowdability.com
