iance for Cannabis Therapeutics, "It appears that every society that encounters marijuana acknowledges its therapeutic properties (Weiss, 1988, pp. 122-123)."
During the nineteenth century, marijuana--administered either through ingestion or inhalation--was employed against a diverse array of medical afflictions. The plant was used as an antiemetic, appetite stimulant, analgesic, sedative, antidepressant, antiparasitic, lactogen, bronchodilator, antidiarrheal agent, and antimigraine agent. In addition, it was applied to such ailments as postpartum psychosis, tetanus, dysmenorrhea, opiate addiction, and gonorrhea. Several medical publications also record its use in obstetrics. In 1851, for example, Christison (cited in Zias et al., 1993, p. 215) concluded that cannabis had "the remarkable power to increase the force of uterine contractions, concomitant with a significant reduction of labour pain."
Despite its widespread use though, the actual therapeutic efficacy of marijuana remains in question. For example, during the late 1800s, the drug was often prescribed for Parkinsonian tremor. More recently, Frankel, Hughes, Lees, & Stern (1990), administered approximately one gram of marijuana in cigarette form to patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. The study found that subjects did not experience any relief from their affliction (Frankel et al., 1990, p. 436). Similar observations may have resulted in a decline in the plant's medicinal use around the turn of the century. As more effective pharmaceuticals were developed, they replaced medicinal marijuana. Eventually, in 1937, cannabis was recognized as a drug of abuse and banned by the Marijuana Tax Act (Selden et al., 1990, pp. 527).
In more recent years, however, marijuana has continued to receive attention for its antiemetic and appetite stimulating qualities. Additionally, the substance has been considered for the treatment of glaucoma, asthma, seizures, an...