The use of Cannabis as a form of medical treatment was legal until the 1938 when pharmaceutical companies started to campaign against its therapeutic properties. As it is a plant, legally any company or corporation can not have a patient over the product, thus making its synthetic counterparts a more financially viable alternative. With the push against large pharma companies and a desire to learn about the medicinal properties of natural therapies and herbs becoming a lucrative industry.

Society is also undergoing a change to alternative and natural therapies. One of the largest booming industries has been the medicinal cannabis sphere with CBD becoming a pioneering product against synthetic pharmaceuticals and their uses. Most people only associate Cannabis with one of its most recognizable markers is THC. To truly understand the medicinal properties, one has to understand the source itself. The Cannabis plant produces many products including hemp, CBD and CBDA as well as THC. As CBD is the raw and untreated compound, when it is extracted it has zero THC in it which makes it even more medically appealing.

Herbal Benefits of the Marijuana

One of the greatest mysteries surrounding the herbal benefits of the marijuana plant is that humans have an Endo cannabinoid System (ECS) which regulates a variety of functions in our bodies including our appetite, sleep, immune response and pain receptors.  With some recent studies even suggesting it can repair and create damaged neurotransmitters in our bodies. CBD’s popularity has started to spike as the stigmatisms round medicinal marijuana are changing and so is the demographics.

As cannabis has been thought of as a drug to induce laughter, hunger or sleepiness and is used as a recreational drug by teenagers and kids in their 20’s. As the overwhelming positive media articles started to infiltrate the mainstream media a shift to prove that its medicinal properties were far more powerful than first thought.

Pain management and the use of CBD to treat inflammatory diseases has gained extensive praise from scientist globally. Inflammation and musculoskeletal conditions effect 1 in 3 Australians. This is a huge market segment that ranges across all demographics. Inflammation is caused by our bodies natural response to fight off an irritant. It is our bodies way of telling us that some part of our whole is not working and is generally an early warning sign of worse aliments. There are 5 main signs associated with inflammation; Heat, Pain, Swelling, Redness and Loss of function or movement.

These signs are cause by the body releasing inflammatory mediators including hormones such as Brady kinin and Histamine in a bid to fight this irritant. Instead it forces the small blood vessels to widen and dilate causing more blood to flow to the injured section, thus often creating the tell-tale signs.

CBD is gaining popularity as a source of treatment against inflammation as it regenerates the cells in a different way to any synthetic marker. CBD markers are able to awaken the End cannabinoid receptors to reduce inflammation by interacting and working with the damaged neurotransmitters. Whilst studying the therapeutic properties of CBD, researchers were shocked to find that it had the ability to inhibit inflammatory and neuropathic pain, which are considered to be the most challenging and difficult types to treat. Unlike synthetic treatments, the only known side-effects are associated with CBD is its interaction with synthetic pharmaceutical products, much like grapefruit can also change our uptake inhibitors. In theory, this proves that synthetic pharmaceuticals are damaging our bodies more than they are helping them.

CBD is being used as a treatment both orally and externally to help reduce inflammation and pain. A recent study in the European Journal of Pain proved that when CDB is applied to an irritated area it will help lower the pain associated with Inflammation and especially arthritis. Positive results have been seen after weeks from suffers in such pain they were unable to move before. One the stigmatism of medicinal marijuana started to subside, waves of suffers from all demographics started to seek it as a healthy and cleaner alternative to prescription medication.

Once we turn our backs on Big Pharma and their control over our health, we may finally be able to start utilising Mother Nature’s gifts for what they truly are. CBD and medicinal marijuana business are only going to continue to grow with a predicted rise of 24.3% over the next five years. As much as big pharma may be against it, the numbers are speaking for themselves. Sales of CBD products in 2019 generated over $1.75 billion alone, proving that alternative medicines are and always will be a critical part of our health and wellbeing.