Medical Marijuana: Dr. Kogan's Evidence-Based Guide to the Health Benefits of Cannabis and CBD - Softcover

Kogan M.D., Mikhail; Liebmann-Smith PhD, Joan

 
9780593190241: Medical Marijuana: Dr. Kogan's Evidence-Based Guide to the Health Benefits of Cannabis and CBD
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0593190246 ISBN 13: 9780593190241
Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2023

Inhaltsangabe

An essential guide to understanding the health benefits of marijuana and CBD

Marijuana has been used for thousands of years as a medicine, but pot has been illegal in the United States for most of our lives. Almost all states have now legalized its medical use, and many consumers and physicians are exploring it as an alternative to conventional treatments. There’s substantial evidence that marijuana (cannabis) is a safe and effective treatment for chronic pain, chemo side effects, sleep and mood disorders, MS, and Parkinson’s disease, among others. But there’s also misinformation about marijuana on social media. And most physicians have limited knowledge on the subject, while dispensary staff (aka “budtenders”) lack medical training.
 
Mikhail Kogan, MD, a renowned expert on medical marijuana, has found that cannabinoids (THC, CBD, hemp, and other cannabis products) can often be more beneficial, have fewer side effects, and be safer than many conventional medications, including opioids and other painkillers. But different ailments require different strains, doses, and routes of delivery. Medical Marijuana demystifies marijuana and other forms of cannabis in a user-friendly guide that will help readers:
 

   • Understand how marijuana morphed from the days of “Reefer Madness” to being hailed as a wonder weed
   • Navigate the complex medical and legal world of marijuana
   • Understand the risks and benefits of THC, CBD, and other cannabis products
   • Evaluate the pros and cons of inhaled and other routes of delivery: edibles, topicals, and even suppositories
   • Find a doctor who can recommend medical cannabis
   • Choose a reliable dispensary
   • Learn how to evaluate labels on cannabis products
   • Discover cost-saving strategies since medical marijuana isn’t covered by health insurance 
With real-life patients’ stories woven throughout the book, simple explanatory graphics, and the most up-to-date information, this is the definitive guide to the wide-ranging benefits of medical marijuana and other forms of cannabis.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Mikhail Kogan, MD, is the medical director of the George Washington University Center for Integrative Medicine and Associate Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Kogan has recommended medical marijuana to thousands of patients and is a frequent lecturer on medical cannabis to professional audiences across the nation. Joan Liebmann-Smith, PhD, is a medical sociologist and an award-wining medical writer who specializes in health promotion and substance abuse prevention. She is the author of five medical self-help books, including Body Signs, which has been translated into twenty-eight languages.
  

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.


Chapter one


The Long and Winding Road


Marijuana, which is derived from the Cannabis sativa plant, has had a very long, convoluted, and controversial history. In fact, the term marijuana wasn't even used until the early twentieth century. Before the mid-eighteenth century, the plant was referred to as hemp (or Indian hemp) in English, and by a variety of names across the globe. The ancient Greeks referred to it as kannabis, which means canvas, because the plant was primarily used to make cloth. But it wasn't called "cannabis" in English until 1753-when it was officially christened Cannabis sativa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus.

Depending on what part of the plant was used, it was either turned into industrial fiber or consumed for medicinal or other, more controversial purposes. In fact, since ancient times, cannabis has been either revered as a sacred shrub, promoted as a panacea, or damned as the devil's weed.

In just the past one hundred years, marijuana has gone from being a common household cure, to being denounced as a dangerous drug, and finally to being declared illegal. But now it's being resurrected as a wonder weed and, once again, making its way into mainstream medicine. Just how this happened is worth exploring. The past not only can inform us about the potential benefits of medical marijuana, but it also can and should inform medical research. As cannabis researcher and historian Dr. Simona Pisanti explains, "It is surprising that most of the pharmacological properties of Cannabis that only now are being studied were indeed already known and used in medicine for the treatment of numerous pathologies in ancient times."


The Ancient Eastern World


Medical marijuana's long journey started in ancient China, where archaeologists have dug up evidence that hemp was used for fiber, food, rituals, and medicine as far back as 4000 BC. Around 2700 BC, Emperor Shen-Nung described the medical benefits of hemp, called "ma," which were later recorded in the Shen Nung Ben Ts'ao (The Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica), the world's oldest pharmacopeia. Ma was recommended for rheumatism, constipation, malaria, absentmindedness, and "female problems," and was used in childbirth for retained placentas and postpartum bleeding. Not surprisingly, ma had its ups and downs; if used in excess, "ma-fen" (the fruit of hemp) could "produce visions of devils [and on the plus side] over a long term, it makes one communicate with spirits and lightens one's body . . . ," Its long-term use was also said to make people fat, strong, and "never senile."

What we now refer to as cannabis spread from China to other parts of the world through trading, migration, and military conquests. It arrived in India around 2000 BC, and by 1000 BC, it was considered to be a sacred plant used in religious rituals. "Bhang," as it was called in India, was said to cause happiness, joy, feelings of freedom, and relief from anxiety. It was also used medically as a painkiller, diuretic, anticonvulsive, anti-phlegmatic, appetite stimulant, and aphrodisiac, among other remedies.


Ancient Middle Eastern and Western Countries


Since the time of the pharaohs (ca. 3100 BC), cannabis was used in Egypt for a variety of conditions. The first written evidence, which was found in the Ramesseum Papyrus (ca. 1700 BC), described it as a treatment for eye diseases, while the Ebers Papyrus (ca. 1550 BC) mentioned that it was used to induce childbirth contractions, treat infected fingers and toes, reduce fevers, and heal urinary and rectal problems. It was administered in a variety of ways: inhaled, taken orally, applied topically, and inserted rectally and vaginally, all delivery methods still used today. (See Chapter 3.)

In Israel, archaeologists recently found residues of cannabis that contained THC in an ancient eighth-century BC temple. This is claimed as the first evidence that ancient Israelis used the drug for religious rituals. In the sixth century BC, cannabis, which was called "kaneh bosem," was mentioned in the Torah as part of the ritual offerings that Moses gave to God. Almost one thousand years later, in AD 350, kaneh bosem (aka kaneh bosm) was referred to in the Talmud as an intoxicating incense that was burned during religious services.

After taking root in India and Egypt, cannabis spread to Rome, Greece, and other parts of the ancient world. Around 450 BC, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus described in his book, The Histories, how the Scythians of Central Asia would inhale smoke from hempseeds during funerals and "howl in joy." But no mention was made of its medicinal use. Several centuries later, however, the Roman naturalist and historian Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) wrote about its risks and benefits in his thirty-eight-volume book, Natural History (the world's first encyclopedia):

Hempseed, it is said, renders men impotent: the juice of this seed will extract worms from the ears, or any insect which may have entered them. A decoction of the root in water, relaxes contractions of the joints, and cures gout and similar maladies.

About a century later, the Roman physician Galen wrote that cannabis juice helped relieve earaches, and hempseed cakes could cause hilarity, relaxation, and euphoria. But he also warned that hempseeds were difficult to digest and could hurt both the stomach and head. In the twelfth century AD, Maimonides-the Jewish philosopher and physician to the Egyptian royal court-mentioned that hemp seeds and oil were used medicinally, but he didn't provide any details. This may be because by the twelfth century, cannabis had been banned in Jewish and Muslim societies.


The Middle Ages in Europe


In medieval times in Western Europe, hemp was extensively used to make textiles and other products, but not necessarily for medical purposes. It was, however, a popular folk medicine in Eastern Europe, where it was used to treat toothaches, aid in childbirth, reduce fevers, relieve joint pain, and even prevent convulsions.

An eleventh-century German, Hildegard von Bingen-a nun, herbalist, mystic, composer, and writer-was one of the first Europeans to write about hemp's medical benefits. A true Renaissance woman before the Renaissance, she was also the first woman to write a medical book, Physica (translated as The Book of Medicinal Simples). She wrote that hemp could help the stomach, wipe out mucus, and relieve pain-especially head pain. As she rather cryptically observed: Whoever has an empty brain and head pains may eat it and the head pains will be reduced. Though he who is healthy and full of brains shall not be harmed by it. He who has an empty brain shall be caused pain by indulging in hemp.

The medical benefits of hemp became more widely known and accepted in the seventeenth century, when prominent herbalists, botanists, and scholars started writing about its use as a cure for a long list of conditions. In England, in 1640, the royal botanist, John Parkinson, described how cannabis seeds were used to treat intestinal and gallbladder diseases, and how concentrated hemp roots could reduce inflammation and swelling, as well as relieve pain from burns, tumors, gout, and other joint problems. The famous seventeenth-century herbalist and physician-scientist Nicholas Culpeper wrote in his book, Complete Herbal, "The seed of hemp consumes wind, and by too much use . . . dries up the natural seed of procreation . . . ," which may or may not have been considered a benefit.

Cannabis wasn't just believed to be useful for physical disorders; the Oxford scholar Robert Burton suggested in his popular book, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1691), that cannabis might be helpful for treating depression. About 150 years later, Jacques-Joseph Moreau, a French psychiatrist who is...

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Verlag
Penguin Publishing Group
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593190246
ISBN 13 
9780593190241
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
304
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

Friedensallee 273
Hamburg
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Deutschland

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