Friday, November 4, 2016

Jake Soto Blog- Medical Marijuana

Jake Soto 
The Amazing Use of Medical Marijuana


            The use of marijuana is a very controversial subject in our world today. Not just the recreational use of marijuana but also the use of marijuana for medical reasons. Many states have legalized the use of medical marijuana and it could not be a better decision. The use of pot in the correct and prescribed way is very healthy. Studies show that medical marijuana decreases the symptoms of a severe seizure disorder known as Dravet's Syndrome as well as stopping cancer from spreading.
            Charlotte Figi is a five-year old girl that suffers from a devastating type of epilepsy called Dravet’s Syndrome. Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta decided to do an interview on the Figi family, who is consistently using a medical marijuana strain that is high in cannabis oil and low in THC, to find that this drug has decreased her seizures from 300 a week to only 1 every seven days. Along with Charlotte there are forty other children in the state of Nevada are also on the same treatment of marijuana and it has worked. Doctors that have prescribed this medical treatment are saying that the cannabis oil in the plant gets to the cells to calm them down from the activity that is causing the seizures. A reported treatment center in Florida that specializes in the disease does not endorse marijuana for any kind of seizure disorder. This is a major problem due to the laws of the states that do not legalize the use of medical marijuana, simply due to the fact that the patients are not getting the treatment that seems to be working. If medical marijuana was legal all around the U.S. this disease, along with other types of seizure disorders, could easily be treated.
           
Not only is the medical marijuana useful for the Figi family and the Dravet’s Syndrome, but it is also shown to stop cancer from spreading. It is said that a chemical in marijuana called CBD, or Cannabidiol, has been said to stop the spread of cancer by turning off a gene called Id-1. CBD is a compound that is in cannabis that has medical effects without making the impression of being “high” because it does not contain the THC. A study that was published in the Molecular Cancer Therapeutics studied breast cancer cells that had high levels of Id-1, and have the patient cannabidoil to treat the cancer. The treatment had made the Id-1 cell and made them less aggressive. Medical marijuana is not a substance used to get the feeling of being “high” but a substance that does not contain as much THC and more of the CBD. This is definitely a medical use that has proven to be the only steady treatment and positive treatment that heals and cures such diseases as cancer.
Medical marijuana is much more than a drug that is used to get “high” but a drug that is saving lives. If used in correct ways and prescribed methods are used properly, this drug is a very useful thing. It has given life to those who were told that they were not going to make it. It has given a more peaceful life to those like 5-year old Charlotte, who struggled with 300 seizures a week. The legalization of the drug CBD would give life and peace to many that are not able to get that chance due to the law of the illegal substance.








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