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One of the most well known ailments to be treated with cannabis is glaucoma; even Bill Maher jokes that he smokes cannabis to treat his glaucoma. Despite the popularity of the cultural allusions, glaucoma is a serious medical condition that often results in irreversible blindness. Cannabis has been shown to help alleviate pain symptoms, and patients suffering from glaucoma have praised the holistic properties of cannabis, both smoked and eaten. Most of this praise focuses on the benefits of cannabis with high THC contents, but other cannabinoids may also help, potentially even more than THC.
Opium is a plant containing opioids which reduce pain by binding to opioid receptors. Cannabis is a plant containing cannabinoids which produces a diverse range of effects by acting on cannabinoid receptors. The Drug Enforcement Agency lists several opioids including heroin as schedule I drugs. They also list all cannabis, hemp, and cannabinoids as schedule I drugs. This means the DEA sees cannabis and heroin as comparable threats to society that offer no medical benefit. So, what is the difference between opioids and cannabis, and why would someone choose to treat their pain with one over the other?
Recently, medical marijuana has gained traction as a viable medication to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Often, people with PTSD use cannabis to calm their mind and reduce the frequency of nightmares.
Of the various ways to medicate with cannabis, ingesting or eating it in some form is one of the most effective. One of the oldest and most versatile methods of ingesting marijuana is the tincture. Cannabis tincture is a particular liquid that has been infused with cannabinoids such as THC or CBD. This medicine is usually kept in a bottle with a dropper for ease of dosing. Traditionally, tinctures are made using alcohol, but other mediums such as glycerine and MCT oil, a coconut oil that has a more fluid state, are also forms of tincture.
Due to the nature of cannabis being listed as a schedule one drug by the federal government, few clinical trials have focused on the effects of medical marijuana on seizures. As such, there is no concrete analysis on the exact relationship between marijuana and seizures. The success that has been attributed to cannabis treating seizures is largely anecdotal, made popular by news outlets such as Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s CNN special on cannabis.
