Still the medicinal properties of the plant remain. For thousands of years doctors have been recommending the use of marijuana. Early recommendations for the use for the drug included malaria, constipation, rheumatic pains, and female disorders (Grinspoon 3). Today, marijuana is prescribed for a variety of afflictions. The methods in which marijuana is used today can be grouped into four categories; the easing of side effects produced by other drugs and treatments, a relaxation device in the control of medical conditions, as a painkiller, and as an appetite stimulant.

The final way in which medical marijuana is used by doctors today is as an “appetite stimulant in AIDS patients”(Maier 22). Much like cancer patients the treatment of AIDS and the drugs that are used to do so cause nausea and rapid weight loss. The most commonly used drug in the fight against AIDS is “zidovudine” (85). Unfortunately, this drug causes additional nausea for the patient which leads to further weight loss in addition to the weight loss and nausea caused by AIDS itself (86). To curb these side effects many doctors turn to marijuana. In one case study in which marijuana was given to AIDS patients that experienced nausea and weight loss the results found that in “addition to relieving nausea, it caused significant weight gain in 70 percent of patients” (91).

But why do thousands of people claim to use marijuana for medicinal purposes? The therapeutic effects of smoked marijuana lie in the result of the drug itself. When smoked, marijuana gives the user a “euphoric state” (Barber 87). This effect commonly termed as the “high” associated with the use of the drug is said to be the source of the medicinal properties of marijuana. However the level of the “high” can be different each time the drug is used and dependant on several things. Marijuana can differ in potency from sample to sample depending on the way in which the marijuana was grown, the way in which it was harvested and the strain of the marijuana plant that is grown(85).

Marijuana is often used today in the ease of side effects for patients that under go treatment for cancer. Chemotherapy is the main reason for the recommendation of marijuana use in cancer patients. “Administered intravenously once every few weeks, chemotherapeutic agents are among the most powerful and toxic chemicals used in medicine” (24). The side effects that are produced are “extremely unpleasant and dangerous” (24). According to Marijuana: The Forbidden Medici

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