Medical marijuana essay

In the patient care settings and with an increasing shift in patient needs, there have been some types of pain that either fails to respond to the contemporary pain management by opioids or narcotic pain-relieving medications or pose increased risks of side effects to the patients. Marijuana contains various compounds such as cannabinoids that have been established to have a significant function in reducing pain, nausea, vomiting and appetite loss. Marijuana use in managing pain can be traced to ancient practices where marijuana was used to manage pain. In ancient Chinese, Marijuana was used for rheumatic pain, reproductive disorders and in combination with wine as anesthesia (Hill, Palastro, Johnson & Ditre, 2017). In the recent past, research has positively moved to prove the effectiveness in use of Marijuana for pain management.

Problem Statement It is established that over 100 million Americans live with chronic pain due to various medical conditions or due to aging. 75-85 % of the elderly who live in the elderly care facilities reportedly suffer from chronic pain effects of which can be debilitating (American Academy of Pain Medicine, 2012). The use of analgesics such as opiates poses key challenges such as depression of the respiratory system, addiction among others. Marijuana has been in past research established to have a more effective and safer pain management effect compared to the contemporary analgesics used in managing pain in the care settings. The use of Marijuana for pain management has demonstrated an improved pain management effect, marijuana also in comparison to opiates in the management of both chronic and acute pain demonstrates better quality of life with reduced side effects.