A medical cannabis pharmacy helps patients receive the natural herb that manages pain when they are suffering from a number of diseases and illnesses. Marijuana, prescribed by a licensed doctor, is similar to that smoked for recreational purposes. This medicament is used to alleviate traumatic pain as well as improve the quality of life among patients with life-threatening illnesses and typically life-ending diseases.

Marijuana contains a component that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier which performs as a reliever of pain. The substance responsible for brain alterations is THC or tetrahydrocannabinol. Besides helping adjust the pain sensors in the brain, this ingredient can also alter a person's memory and sleep patterns.

A prescription for marijuana might help a patient with a number of ailments. Chemotherapy and other painful cancer cures tear the body apart from the inside. Marijuana helps calm patients and eases their nausea. Included in the chemical makeup of marijuana is a muscle relaxant helpful to multiple sclerosis patients as their muscles often become very stiff. Other desired benefits of marijuana for the terminally ill include evening out sleep, strengthening memory and generally increasing overall well-being of the patient's final days.

There are a number of reasons a doctor who practices alternative treatments would ask their patients to use marijuana instead of harsh pharmaceuticals. Manufactured drugs produce side effects that not only contribute to a patient's deteriorating organs, but they often hurt their mental health. As a natural herb, smoking marijuana is not going to add to failing health.

Those who endorse marijuana for medicinal purposes often ask their patients to use it in the most traditional sense. This means smoking the herb. However, some caregivers and patients may find that eating or inhaling it through a vaporizer easier.

Using a homeopathic remedy such as marijuana as an alternative cure is cost affective over traditional drugs. Unfortunately, health indemnification plans and insurance companies are not willing to cover this herb. Plus marijuana for health is showing it helps quality-of-life issues for individuals in long-term pain, but that is not helping its majority recognition.

There are many reasons, on both sides of the marijuana debate, to legalizing and to outlaw this helping herb. To date, there are 18 US properties which do not arrest someone if they grow, smoke or own a certain amount of this herb for health reasons. They are New Jersey, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Vermont, Delaware, Nevada, Connecticut, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, California, Maine, Oregon, Michigan, Washington and Alaska. There are nine countries which also have legalized marijuana for health reasons and they are Spain, Portugal, Italy, Israel, Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada.

Individuals suffering from a debilitating and painful disease or illness may need help from a medical cannabis pharmacy to manage their pain. Marijuana for therapeutic reasons is no longer left to the dark alleys and street corner dealers as it is coming to the forefront of more community healthcare clinics. But help for long-term pain, anxiety and other issues needs to go through proper chancels so no one has added suffering or anxiety.