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"MAYO CLINIC: Marijuana as medicine: Consider the pros and cons"
"Whether marijuana will relieve your side effects or symptoms is questionable. But the risks of smoking pot are clear. Examine the facts about marijuana before making your decision

People have used marijuana as a medical treatment for thousands of years. Such uses extend even to modern America. Marijuana was listed by the U.S. Pharmacopeia, the organization that sets quality standards for approved drugs in the United States, until the 1940s, when political pressure against marijuana's recreational use triggered its removal.

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that state laws allowing medicinal use of marijuana must bow to federal law banning it, proponents still tout this controversial plant's ability to treat pain, nausea and other uncomfortable side effects of medical treatment as well as some disease symptoms.

Marijuana 101: The plant and its components-----
Marijuana refers to the dried flowers, leaves, stems and seeds of the Cannabis sativa plant. These parts contain the compounds that produce the mind-altering effect that recreational users seek when smoking or ingesting the plant — but they also provide components with potential medical benefits.

Marijuana contains at least 60 chemicals called cannabinoids. Researchers are evaluating how effective some of these cannabinoids might be in controlling symptoms of certain medical conditions. For example:

THC....An abbreviation for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, THC is the main component responsible for marijuana's mind-altering effect. It also may help treat signs and symptoms such as nausea and vomiting that are associated with a number of medical conditions.

Cannabinol and cannabidiol....These compounds have some of the properties of THC, but cause less psychoactive effects — the high.

Dronabinol (Marinol)....Dronabinol (dro-NAB-in-ol) is a man-made version of THC available by prescription. It's used to prevent nausea and vomiting after cancer chemotherapy when other medicines for these side effects don't work, and to increase appetite in people with AIDS.

How it works-----
When smoked or ingested, THC and other cannabinoids in marijuana attach to two types of receptors on cells in your body — like keys in a lock — affecting the cells, once attached.

CB1 is one such receptor. CB1 receptors are found mainly in your brain, especially in areas that control body movement, memory and vomiting. This helps explain why marijuana use affects balance and coordination and impairs short-term memory and learning, and why it can be useful in treating nausea, pain and loss of appetite.

The other type of receptor, CB2, is found in small numbers elsewhere in your body, mainly in tissue of the immune system, such as your spleen and lymph nodes. The function of these receptors is not well understood. They may serve as brakes on immune system function, which may help explain why marijuana suppresses your immune system.

After you smoke marijuana, its ingredients reach their peak levels in your body within minutes, and effects can last up to an hour and a half. When eaten — the plant is sometimes mixed with food — the ingredients can take several hours to reach their peak levels in your body, and their effects may last for hours.

The prescription drug dronabinol, which is taken as an oral capsule, takes effect in about 30 minutes and can continue to stimulate appetite for more than a day.

Possible medical uses----
Scientists studying marijuana's potential medical uses have found that it may help treat a variety of conditions.

Nausea----
One of THC's medical uses best supported by research is the treatment of nausea. It can improve mild to moderate nausea caused by cancer chemotherapy and help reduce nausea and weight loss in people with AIDS.

Younger people may find marijuana more useful as a treatment for nausea than do older people — who may not tolerate its mind-altering side effects ..."