Is marijuana a medicine?

Evidence of the medical uses of marijuana comes in different varieties:

Molecular  Biology: A cannabinoid  revolution was sparked in the late eighties by the discovery that the  active ingredients of marijuana acted through a network of chemical receptors  localized in specific sites in the brain and immune system that became known as cannabinoid receptors. The natural cannabinoid manufactured and utilized  by the human body is called anadamide

Controlled clinical studies on the medical effects of marijuana are  being forbidden right now by the federal government (this link goes off-site),  so we have no firm evidence as to the safety and effectiveness of marijuana in  actual patients. Marijuana remains legally classified by the federal government  as a Schedule I narcotic, as useless and dangerous as heroin, so the policy of  the government impedes the very scientific research that could prove it false.

Reports by physicians: A survey of American oncologists published in  1990 revealed that 44% of those surveyed had advised cancer patients  to smoke marijuana for relief of nausea from chemotherapy and radiation  treatments. Cannabis was first reported as a medicine by a physician 5000 years  ago in an ancient Chinese apothecary, and this trend has been repeated by every  society in written history where cannabis was present. This includes America up  until 1937, when the first federal laws criminalizing marijuana were passed by  Congress over the loud objections of the American Medical Association.

Reports  by patients: Here are web sites containing testimonials from people using marijuana to treat  symptoms from cancer chemotheray, AIDS wasting syndrome and side effects of  AIDS medications, pain and muscle spasms from multiple sclerosis and other  serious illnesses:

1. Yes on Prop. 215 by Californians for Compassionate Use
2. Americans for Compassionate Use
3. Republicans for Prop. 215
4. Cancer Patient Doreen Bishop's Struggle for Medical Marijuana
5. An archive of articles and press clippings at the Hyperreal Drug Archive 

To get a good quality of medical cannabis selection visit San Francisco Medical Marijuana Dispensary.