Medical Marijuana Case Study

The Use of Marijuana in the Treatment of Psychological Disorders

The use of marijuana as a medicinal treatment has been met with much controversy. Public opinion of marijuana use, whether recreational or medical is sharply divided. Some dismiss medical marijuana simply as a hoax to make it legal. Others are adament about the unique medicinal properties that it has. Both sides have used science as the backbone of their case, supporting claims that the others have deemed false. In this report I will objectively make a case that marijuana has a legitimate use in the world of medicine and mental disorders. The use of marijuana in the treatment of disorders hasn't reach a level to which there is definitive evidence to support a wide array of
There have been many studies about the effectiveness of marijuana as a pain reliever. In a report by Bicher and Mechoulam (1968) they analyse the analgesic effect of marijuana. Using the hot plate test and the tail flick tests, Bicher concluded that the effective dose curve of Delta-9 THC was comparable to morphine. There were variances between the rats and the mice in the results obtained, but these are attributed to the different methods of administration. Another interesting thing was that THC had a longer duration of action than morphine and had a slower drug concentration peak. In 1999 Chichewizc and Welch found that Delta-9 THC induced analgesia in both vehicle treated and morphine tolerant mice. In both groups, analgesia was equally effective "indicating that analgesia produced by the combination is not hampered by existing morphine treatment" (i.e. no cross tolerance). Mice were injected with Delta-9 THC and morphine twice daily for 6.5 days and tested for tolerance on day 8. There was a tolerance for THC, but morphine tolerance did not occur. These results suggest low-dose combinations of THC and morphine might prevent or lessen morphine tolerance. This might be very useful in patients with chronic pain or with patients that need morphine for a considerable amount of time. Opiate tolerance is a problem that is faced in patients with chronic pain. In fact repeated opiate administration actually increases pain sensitivity for a period of 1 to 3 days after administration. To use an opiate and Delta-9 THC concurrently would lessen the tolerance effect and allow for better pain management. Another interesting study by Fride and Mechoulam (1993) found that anandamide produces analgesia. The first endogenous cannabinoid to be discovered, its full name is way to complicated to pronounce, arachidonylethanolamine. Named from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means bliss. Compared with