What is medical marijuana used for?

Alzheimer's disease
Appetite loss
Cancer
Crohn's disease
Diseases effecting the immune system like HIV/AIDS or Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Eating disorders such as anorexia
Epilepsy
Glaucoma
Mental health conditions like schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Multiple sclerosis
Muscle spasms
Nausea
Pain
Seizures
Wasting syndrome (cachexia)
But it’s not yet proven to help many of these conditions, with a few exceptions, Bonn-Miller says.

"The greatest amount of evidence for the therapeutic effects of cannabis relate to its ability to reduce chronic pain, nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, and spasticity [tight or stiff muscles] from MS," Bonn-Miller says.

How does it help?
Cannabinoids -- the active chemicals in medical marijuana -- are similar to chemicals the body makes that are involved in appetite, memory, movement, and pain.

Limited research suggests cannabinoids might:

Reduce anxiety
Reduce inflammation and relieve pain
Control nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy
Kill cancer cells and slow tumor growth
Relax tight muscles in people with MS
Stimulate appetite and improve weight gain in people with cancer and AIDS

Can medical marijuana help with seizure disorders?
Medical marijuana received a lot of attention a few years ago when parents said that a special form of the drug helped control seizures in their children. The FDA recently approved Epidiolex, which is made from CBD, as a therapy for people with very severe or hard-to-treat seizures. In studies, some people had a dramatic drop in seizures after taking this drug.

Has the FDA approved medical marijuana?
The cannabidiol Epidiolex was approved in 2018 for treating seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. In addition, the FDA has approved two man-made cannabinoid medicines -- dronabinol (Marinol, Syndros) and nabilone (Cesamet) -- to treat nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy. The cannabidiol Epidiolex was approved in 2018 for treating seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome.