Marijuana, the Forbidden Medicine Marijuana is the common name for a drug comprised of the leaves and flowering tops of the Indian hemp plant, cannabis sativa, which can be smoked or eaten for unique The active ingredient of marijuana, known as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), isconcentrated in the flowering tops of the Indian hemp plant. In the USA, the legality ofmarijuana, found to be medically useful by some, has been a controversal topic fordecades (Nahas 1).Today, the 5,000-year medical history of cannabis has been almost forgotten. Cannabis sativa has been used therapeutically from the earliest records to the presentday. Although the Chinese and East Indian cultures knew about the properties of thisdrug from very early times, the drug spread across the globe with progressing globaldiscoveries (Nahas 2). However, the most valuable medical experiments were madeduring the 19th century. At that time, due to its analgesic effects, marijuana wasprepared chiefly in an alcoholic solution used to treat tetanus, neuralgia, labor pain,dysmenorrhea, convulsions, asthma, and rheumatism. Its use declined in the early 20thcentury partly because other more valuable alternatives became available -- syntheticdrugs such as aspirin and barbiturates. In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed. Designed to prevent non-medical use, this law made cannabis so difficult to obtain formedical purposes that it was removed from the pharmacopoeia (Randall and O’Leary140).The modern renaissance of medicinal cannabis began in the early 1970s, whenseveral young chemotherapy patients claimed that marijuana was more effective for therelief of nausea, weight-loss, and loss of appetite. Advocates argued that medicinalmarijuana countered the side effects of chemotherapy and word spread rapidly; bymid-decade, the capacity of marijuana to lower intraocular pressure had been observed. As the AIDS epidemic became prevalent, patients began to use marijuana to decr...
