Cannabis, in many cases referred to as marijuana, has had a negative reputation for decades. Now, scientists have discovered the different health benefits of this plant – especially benefits of medical marijuana – which further proves that there are many misconceptions about marijuana’s place in society that need to be cleared with the general public.

One of the popular misconceptions is that smoking marijuana is just like smoking tobacco and increases your risk of developing lung cancer. In 2006, the American Thoracic Society presented in a conference on May 23 the results of their study on the link between lung cancer and cannabis smoking. The results of the study were surprising as it proved that there was no link between smoking cannabis and lung cancer. Even the heaviest cannabis smokers did not have increased risk of developing lung cancer.

In a more recent, similar study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers examined 5,115 men and women over the course of two decades to further analyze the relationship between marijuana use and lung cancer. Interestingly, not only did the researchers find that marijuana had no negative impact on lung use, but that the plant may slightly increase lung airflow rates.

Further showcasing the marijuana and cancer relationship, a great deal of research shows how marijuana can be a powerful cancer fighter in various forms. scientists confirmed that the plant’s primary psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) destroys any and all malignant cancer cell growths in several patients, while research has already repeatedly shown how the other cannabinoid present in cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), possesses many beneficial properties. In one case, a Dad attributes his 3-year-old sons’s survival of brain cancer with the use of marijuana oil.

A different study performed by the American Association of Cancer Research proved that marijuana slows down tumor growth, thus aiding in the prevention of cancer of the lungs, brains, and breasts. This study and many others proved that smoking cannabis is at the very least not near as dangerous to your health as most people think. In fact, the effects of cannabis are quite the opposite. Cannabis has been shown to possess many more more health benefits than previously thought.

Cannabis is now known to be an excellent pain reliever. Cannabis can reduce pain better than most prescription pain killers. Amazingly, a person taking cannabis to relieve chronic pain experiences a less “high” effect then they would when taking prescribed pain killers. In a 2011 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, researchers examined the effects of cannabinoids on chronic pain and proper sleep. What they found in their trials challenges federal government claims that cannabis has ‘no accepted medical use’.

Cannabis is known to relieve migraines and the symptoms of chronic diseases. In California, doctors were able to use medical marijuana in the treatment of more than 300,000 migraine cases.

This plant is not as lethal as some once thought it to be. There have been no reported cases of death due to cannabis overdose. Marijuana’s negative reputation is long overdue for a makeover, as this plant has proven to have a lot more health benefits than generally accepted. Whether individuals choose to use marijuana or hemp (a strain of the cannabis plant very low in the active ingredient responsible for psychoactive effects – THC) should be their choice. There is plenty of information available portraying the positive aspects of cannabis, but government censorship still persists.