We are now up to 40 states and the District of Columbia with legalized medical cannabis. Meanwhile, there is still plenty of debate within the scientific and medical communities as to marijuana’s efficacy as a treatment for certain conditions. And in most cases, efficacy boils down to how the word ‘treatment’ is defined.
The pesky little issue of defining treatments is no small matter. It is also not a matter confined to medical cannabis. Both Western and Eastern medicine offer endless lists of treatments for nearly every condition under the sun. But what exactly is a treatment? What is it designed to do?
Being Skeptical of Marijuana
From a purely medical standpoint, the Miriam Webster online dictionary defines treatment as “a therapeutic agent, therapy, or procedure used to treat a medical condition.” That is all well and good, but what’s the point? If the point is to merely alleviate symptoms, then cannabis can accurately be called an efficacious treatment. If the point is to cure, then marijuana does not meet the standard.
There is no shortage of skeptics in the medical marijuana arena. The Skeptic contributor and SUNY Geneseo professor Dave Hahn is one of them. He has looked at numerous medical marijuana studies and isn’t convinced that the plant or its main cannabinoid, THC, are legitimate treatments for glaucoma, cancer, or chronic pain.
In fairness, Hans seems to take the curative position in his definition of treatments. For example, he explains that glaucoma patients only benefit from marijuana if they use it frequently to reduce swelling in the eye. If they stop using, the swelling returns and the symptoms persist. Thus, marijuana does not cure glaucoma. It simply alleviates the symptoms.
It is Typical of Western Medicine
On the other hand, there is a lot to be said about symptom alleviation. Alleviating symptoms is actually typical of Western medicine. So many of the treatments our doctors prescribe have no real curative effect. The treatments are designed to make us feel better while our bodies do the work of healing themselves.
If symptom alleviation is the main goal of medical treatments, then marijuana would certainly qualify. It would qualify even if the relief it offers is triggered by the placebo effect, which might actually be the case with medical cannabis. Hahn actually brings up that point in his piece for The Skeptic. But so what?
If It Works, It Works
The good folks at Beehive Farmacy, a medical marijuana dispensary near Logan, UT, says that chronic pain is the number one reason people obtain medical cannabis cards in Utah. Cannabis is their preferred treatment for managing pain.
For many of them, marijuana relieves pain more effectively than opioids and without so many side effects. They continue visiting Beehive Farmacy because cannabis works for them. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether the relief is from the placebo effect or some endocannabinoid mechanism science has yet to discover. People are successfully using it to manage chronic pain.
We Don’t Know As Much As We Think
We do not know as much as we think about biology, physiology, and human health. That’s the reason why many of our medical treatments aren’t curative at all. We don’t know how to cure much of what ails us. So instead, treatments focus on alleviating symptoms.
How people define medical treatments can be a pesky little thing. If you define them purely as curative, medical marijuana is lacking. But if treatments are a means to symptom alleviation, it is hard to argue against what is now one of the most popular medicinal plants in the world.
