Should medicinal marijuana be legalised? This is a medical topic that has so strongly divided the research community. Proponents use peer-reviewed studies, major government reports, and the use of marijuana as medicine throughout world history to argue that it can be an effective and safe treatment for the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cancer, and other conditions. However, the opponents debate that marijuana is dangerous to use since it is addictive, interferes with fertility, and injures the lungs, immune system, and brain. They also argue that there are numerous legal drugs that make marijuana use unnecessary.
To be able to examine such a controversial topic, one must first understand what marijuana is before being able to understand what it may do. There are thousands of studies published on the chemical configuration of marijuana alone. The following presentation will attempt to condense this information and deliver a summarised analysis of cannabis constituents, focusing primarily on the properties of cannabinoids; THC and cannabidiol.
English: Close up shot of some high quality mariju...
THC Biosynthesis
Medical marijuana usaThe marijuana plant has 6 different stages of growth and development. The chemical composition of cannabis will dramatically change during these different stages of growth. Various cannabinoids have different therapeutic benefits and each varietal strain of marijuana has unique chemical properties. It should be recognized that caregivers have different growing methods and may have differing effects. Some of these differences in methodology are designed to help develop specific cannabinoids further for certain medical conditions.
Cannabis has an extremely complex chemistry due to the vast number of its constituents and their potential interaction with one another. The plant contains over 483 chemicals of which more than 85 are cannabinoids.
Cannabinoids are extremely unique chemical structures that can only be found in the cannabis plant. These are the main ingredients of cannabis that are used for medicinal purposes.
Among this list,