The New York Journal of Medicine published a study that showed 78 percent of patients not responding to conventional antiemetics, the family of drugs conventionally used to treat the side effects of chemotherapy, demonstrated positive responses, with no side effects, when treated with marijuana cigarettes (Zeese). Additionally, published studies also document that marijuana stimulates the appetites of most patients. This is especially important to AIDS patients suffering from AIDS Wasting Syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by an inability to eat that leads to severe malnutrition and eventual death (Onstand 164). Regarding Glaucoma, multiple studies published in the Journal of American Medicine show marijuana's effectiveness in lowering patients intraocular eye pressure, thus preserving their vision (Brookhi!.
ser 28). For patients with epilepsy, multiple scleroses, and spinal cord injuries, data have consistently shown that marijuana is effective in limiting convulsions and improving motor functions. These studies demonstrate that marijuana could greatly increase the quality of life for millions of patients. .
Reproducing many of the same effects as natural marijuana, cannibinoids, derivatives of marijuana, are currently the most frequently prescribed therapeutics for nausea and vomiting. Cannibinoids utilize delta-9 tetrahydrocannibinol, or THC. THC is the chemical in marijuana credited with giving marijuana its therapeutic effects (Onstand 165). THC is available in the pill form Marinol. Initially renowned as the foremost treatment of nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite, Marinol has fallen out of favor with a majority of doctors and patients. First of all, Marinol only comes in pill-form, and can therefore take up to an hour to be effective (Kalb 35). Often, patients suffering from nausea cannot ingest a pill long enough for the medication to be absorbed. Additionally, 90 percent of the THC is eliminated from the bloodstream.