Cannabis Helps Pain Relief & Increases Appetite – Blessing for Chemo Patients.

Increasingly, marijuana has been recognized for providing pain relief. Even the United States Veteran's Administration accepts doctor approved use of marijuana for veterans. Not only is it a powerful analgesic - up to three times stronger than aspirin, it amplifies and extends pharma pain relievers such as advil, motrin and similar pain relievers, including aspirin. People using many different types of pain medication have successfully decreased the amount needed by supplementing with marijuana. Many patients using medical cannabis have significantly reduced, and in some cases eliminated their reliance on pharmaceuticals. Marijuana's efficacy and safety has truly been time-tested, as humans have been consuming marijuana for many, many thousands of years.

Besides pain relief, marijuana has long been known to increase appetite, and the word "munchies" describes the sudden hunger that often ensues smoking cannabis. This side-effect has proven to be very beneficial to patients suffering from lack of appetite, either due to medicines they must take, or because the actual ailment itself supresses appetite. Chemo-therapy patients typically benefit from marijuana both because it eases discomfort/pain and also because it counters the associated nausea and lack of appetite. Aids paitents also use cannabis to safely help them keep and add weight. Weight loss complicates many other ailments besides aids and cancer, and doctors are exploring these possibilities, as well as other medical potential.

The pain relief from certain strains of marijuana are decidedly more pronounced than others. The cannabinoid "CBN" is very analgesic, and arthritis patients benefit from using strains high in this particular chemical. A favorite pain relieving variety, "Catatonic" provides nearly instant relief with just the first puff. There are other strains reknowned for pain relief, just tell your caregiver what you need and they can help you find an appropriate strain-type or blend of different strains.

The image to the right shows a female top with the whitish trichome crystals covering the leafy seed-casings. Trichomes are where the medicine is most concentrated, so look for these on your cannabis buds. The more trichomes present, the more potency there will be. As trichomes age they become amber colored. The color of the trichomes purportedly indicates strengths of the various active ingredients. This would correlate to the belief that as the curing process continues, the various medicinal qualities of the bud increase and change. Proper curing is considered essential in order to to bring out the full complement of the plant's active ingredients.

This color-enhanced microscopic image of a
trichome in cross-section shows the large cells
holding the resin that make up the supporting pillar,
which is holding the glob of resin suspended above
the plant surface. This presents a sticky, pungent
array, likey a defense against predation.

These resin structures, these tiny power-houses of active ingredients, trichomes, are not water soluble, but they do melt and vaporize at a relatively low temperature. This is the principle behind vaporizing medical marijuana. The resins turn into vapor at a lower temperature than the cellulose fibes of the plant. There is no smoke, since the kindling point of the plant material is not reached. Nonetheless, the medicine escapes as gas/vapor and can be inhaled without any soot or ash in the mix. - see more about vaporizers -

Keeping trichomes cold is the key to producing hashish. The cold-water production process filters out the tiny trichomes from the rest of the plant. The accumulated mass of these miniscule particles of resin is what hash is made of. Dissolved trichomes, melted into various oils or butter provide the mainstay of cannabis-infused edible products. The chef cooking with the infused products substituting for the standard, non-medicated ingredients.

If you dissolve the trichomes in a solvent such as butane or alchohol, then evaporate the solvent, you're left with hash oil. Hash oil is very concentrated and can be used in a wide variety of ways, from vaporizing and inhaling, to blending into edibles. Modern research is investigating THC concentrates such as hash oil as a salve for various rashes, sores and even as a plaster for corns. Even more exciting, there is serious research into the anti-tumor and cancer-preventative qualities thought to be present in marijuana. Time will tell.