The American public largely supports the legalization of medical marijuana. At least 84% of the public believes the drug should be legal for medical uses, and recreational pot usage is less controversial than ever, with at least 61% of Americans in support.

Attitudes toward medical marijuana have changed a lot over the years, and many people have experienced significant relief from their symptoms. Some people are still on the fence about consuming it, though.

Cannabis actually has some VERY surprising health benefits. Here’s a few.

Treatment for Chronic Pain

A recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said there was definitive evidence that cannabis or cannabinoids (which are found in the marijuana plant) can be an effective treatment for chronic pain.

The report said that is “by far the most common” reason people request medical marijuana.

Smoking weed makes you thinner

Or at least less likely to be obese You might not think it after you’ve watched a munchie-struck stoner devour an entire KFC family bucket in one go, but dope smokers are less likely to be obese. A study in the journal Obesity found that regular weed smokers are less likely to be obese than non-smokers. The researchers from Conference of Quebec University Health Centers looked at 700 adults aged 18-74 – and found that cannabis users tend to have low body mass index scores (often taken as a sign of good health). People with low BMIs tend to have less body fats and tend to be at lower risk for diabetes.

Marijuana can Improve Lung Function

Smoking weed isn’t actually that bad for your lungs, and smokers actually have improved lung function when compared to both cigarette smokers – and people who have never smoked either. The researchers, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, say that the big drags taken by weed smokers may actually ‘train’ lungs to be more efficient.

Medical Cannabis can Help with Muscle Spasms

There’s equally strong evidence marijuana can help with muscle spasms related to multiple sclerosis.

Other types of muscle spasms respond to marijuana as well. People use medical marijuana to treat diaphragm spasms that are untreatable by other, prescribed medications.

Decrease Anxiety

In 2010, researchers at Harvard University suggested that another of the drug’s benefits may actually be reduced anxiety, which would improve the smoker’s mood and act as a sedative in low doses. [6]

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Beware, though, higher doses may increase anxiety and make you paranoid.

Help Eliminate Nightmares

This is a bit complicated because it involves both positive and negative effects. Marijuana may disturb the sleep cycle by interrupting the later stages of REM sleep.

However, people who suffer from serious nightmares, especially patients with PTSD, this can be helpful. Nightmares and other dreams occur during those same stages of sleep.

By interrupting REM sleep, many of those dreams may not occur. Research using a synthetic cannabinoid, like THC, showed a decrease in the number of nightmares in patients with PTSD.[11]

Marijuana maybe a better sleep aid than some other medications or even alcohol because the latter two may potentially have worse effects on sleep, though more research is needed on the topic.

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