Marijuana in the Medical Field

Marijuana is increasing in use due to it being legalized in numerous states.  There are numerous benefits to using marijuana, and many may wonder what type of cognitive effects marijuana use may cause.  There has been questions as to whether it causes memory loss, if it helps anxiety, if it helps a person focus more, etc.  There are so many reasons, in which have been researched, that marijuana can help a person, but then that also means that it opens the door for more people to claim they have a health problem, when they really don’t and are just seeking marijuana. 

Article Analysis Number One

            In the first article, Kramer (2015) completed a peer-reviewed journal study.  The article is looking for reasons to show patients and doctors what the benefits are, therapeutically, to patients.  This article is acting as a guide to patients and doctors, and helping them make their decision based on other research that has been done on what type of effects marijuana has on people that are physically sick or mentally ill.  The article also explains the different compounds of marijuana and what they actually do to the body and what they are for.  As far as medical needs, the article states that, “Marijuana, THC, and cannabinoid pharmaceuticals have been studied for a number of medical applications, including the treatment of nausea, pain, anorexia and weight loss, seizures, spasticity, and glaucoma,” (Kramer, 2015, p. 113). 

Research Method

            Since this article is doing research strictly based off of other research that has been completed, the method that was used was searching on PubMed.  According to the article, specific terms were used, these terms included, “Marijuana, cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, dronabinol, nabilone, nabiximols, and cannabidiol,” (Kramer, 2015, p. 113).  Once these terms were inserted, any article that included a clinical trial was then looked at.  While they were looking at these articles, they were looking for specific reasons that the marijuana was being used to help.

WE’VE HAD A GOOD SUCCESS RATE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT. PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH PapersSpot AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT

Key Variables

            The key variables in this hypothesis would be the therapeutic effects and marijuana use.  These two variables give us the reason why this article is being written.  Every day patients suffer from anxiety, depression, etc. and marijuana can help reduce these mental illnesses.  While research has been done on this, this article really looks at these variables and determines what benefits and consequences it may have.

Description of How the Hypothesis was, or Was Not Supported

            For this article, the different reasons that marijuana was being used was broken down into sections.  The first section, that was discussed, was nausea and if marijuana helped that.  Kramer (2015) discussed an article that was found that showed that 99% of the patients that had nausea had less nausea after smoking marijuana/THC.  On the other hand, there was a study done, that showed chemotherapy patients had no reduction in nausea because of marijuana/THC.

            The next section discusses how marijuana correlated with pain and if it reduces it.  According to the article, “Smoked marijuana improved pain tolerance in one study.  In another study, smoked marijuana decreased pain sensitivity and intensity and improved pain tolerance in pain induced by the cold pressor test,” (Kramer, 2015, p. 114).  As with nausea, the effects that marijuana has on pain is back and forth between working and not working.  There are some studies that show that marijuana increases pain tolerance and some studies that show it doesn’t increase pain tolerance.

            Overall, there have been significant cases where smoking marijuana can help specific ailments and can help the quality of life for some people.  As everything, it doesn’t always work, just like any over-the-counter medication you may get, such as Tylenol or Aleve.  These pills make work for one person’s headache, but not work for another.  This is the same thing with marijuana. 

Determination and Explanation of Safe and Ethical Study

            Since this study was a review of other studies that have been done, it was done very safe and ethically.  The researcher had specific things being looked for, and there were not any biases that were shown.  The way that the articles, and case studies, were being reviewed were very carefully done in that there were certain key words that were being looked for, and if that article didn’t include it, they didn’t even read the full article. 

Article Analysis Number Two

            The article by Lankenau et al. (2018) discusses if the uses of medical marijuana are being used for the right reasons and the correct people are being given the opportunity to utilize its benefits.  The article discusses the different ailments a person would go to the doctor for and then ask for the approval of medical marijuana use.  Because medical marijuana has been known to have so many benefits, people are seeking it out by saying that they have these problems.

Research Methods

            For this research study, Lankenau et al. (2018), there were 366 total participants that were interviewed and brought in for the study.  This occurred within a one-year time frame and happened in Los Angeles, California.  According to the article, “Enrollment criteria included the following: aged between 18 and 26 years; used marijuana at least four times in the last 30 days; lived in the Los Angeles metro area; and spoke/read English,” (Lankenau et al., 2018, p. 238).  For the data collection part, this was done in locations that were semi-private and the majority of the questions, that were being asked, were done in person.  The measures that were taken were specific questions that were asked as to why that person used marijuana and what their motivation was.  They were also asked about what medical conditions they had that they thought was a reason for being able to get medical marijuana. 

Key Variables

            The key variables in this article would be medical marijuana and reasons for use.  Marijuana has been known to be used for numerous ailments and this article takes specific ones and tests to see if it helps those.  Even though this article is testing these things, this answer can vary from person to person, as medicine doesn’t work the same from one person to the next. 

Description of How the Hypothesis was, or Was Not Supported

            The hypothesis being supported in this article is also unclear.  The majority of the participants in the study said that they were experiencing psychological problems, which is why they needed medical marijuana.  In a study like this, it is hard to determine what is accurate and inaccurate.  Psychological issues can only be tested to a certain degree, there isn’t a blood test that says that a person has social anxiety, a doctor can only diagnose this based off of what a person is saying.  The article does state that, “While a great majority of patients appears to have obtained a medical marijuana recommendation for legitimate health problems, a notable proportion of non-patients also reported health problems that might qualify them for a medical marijuana recommendation under the California law,” (Lankenau et al., 2018, p. 244). 

Determination and Explanation of Safe and Ethical Study

            This study did seem to be safe and ethical in every aspect.  The researchers made sure to get written consent from all of the participants.  The participants were also made aware of what they were doing and what it would include.  The researchers also explained what would happen if they decided they wanted to pursue getting medical marijuana, as far as being put into a database and what the entailed.  This study was very straight-forward and the participants were very well-informed and were very in the loop on what was going on. 

Article Analysis Number Three

            The article written by Metrik et al. (2015) discusses how marijuana can increase positive subjective effects and can also decrease how a person reacts to something negative.  The article states that, “Consideration of these cognitive processes may further explicate findings suggesting that marijuana acutely increases both positive and negative emotions,” (Metrik et al., 2018, p. 340).  Metrik et al. (2015) discuss how the incentive sensitization theory basically teaches the brain that a specific thing is related to good or bad.  In this case, marijuana would be related with good and so a person trains their brain that only happiness can happen while under the influence of marijuana. 

Research Methods

            In the study that was completed by Metrik et al. (2015), each participant was given two cigarettes, one with marijuana and one fake one (the participant didn’t know which was which).  The stipulations for the participants included the following: 18 to 44 years old, marijuana use of at least 2 days per week in a month time frame and also at least weekly in a 6 month time frame, and must not be addicted to marijuana.  At the end of the screening period, there were a total of 89 participants who would complete the study. 

Key Variables

            The key variables in this study are marijuana and negative and positive stimuli.  When looking at marijuana, some people say that it makes them feel good and puts their mind at ease, which can benefit people of all kinds.  If you are a person that was diagnosed with cancer, while it might not help nausea it could help you to not worry about having cancer constantly.  This article discusses the different mental affects it may have.

Description of How the Hypothesis was, or Was Not Supported

            The hypothesis was not supported in the fact that there was not direction towards positive or negative stimuli as a whole.  The article does state that, “Contrary to our hypothesis, active marijuana, relative to placebo, did not generate attentional bias to affective word stimuli on the emotional Stroop task in the whole sample,” (Metrik et al., 2015, p. 347).  The response time is slower when the marijuana cigarette is smoked, but the positive and negative is not a factor in these responses. 

Determination and Explanation of Safe and Ethical Study

            In this article, the participants sign a waiver and a consent form stating that they are aware of what they are going to participate in.  The researchers do not include any participants who have specific medical things going on, such as pregnancy, due to the harm it can cause.  They are very cautious as to who can be involved in this study.  They are also very cautious about explaining what the participants will be doing in this study. 

Summary and Conclusion

            The use of marijuana in the medical field has so many different opinions attached to it.  These three articles give different responses and give different views as to why marijuana could be a good or bad thing in the medical field.  As like most medications or drugs, the effects of marijuana will vary from person to person, but can definitely have a strong benefit for some people.  Weighing all of the pros and cons when it comes to using marijuana medically can really help patients and doctors determine if this is the best answer.  All of the articles that were reviewed were done safely and ethically, mainly because consent was done in each.  The research method that would best help understand the uses of marijuana in the medical field would be the idea that they did in article number three where they actually had their participants smoke and then answer questions.  This will result in giving answers that are based off of their experience specifically and will not be bias because they can explain how smoking marijuana actually made them feel. 

References

Kramer, J. L. (2015). Medical marijuana for cancer. Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 65(2), 1-15.

            doi: 10.3322/caac.21260

Lankenau, S. E., Ataiants, J., Mohanty, S., Schrager, S., Iverson, E., & Wongm C. F. (2018).

            Health conditions and motivations for marijuana use among young adult medical

            marijuana patients and non-patient marijuana users. Drug & Alcohol Review, 37(2),

            237-246. doi: 10.1111/dar.12532

Metrik, J., Aston, E. R., Kahler, C. W., Rohsenow, D. J., McGeary, J. E., & Knopik, V. S.

            (2015). Marijuana’s acute effects on cognitive bias for affective and marijuana cues.

            Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 23(5), 339-350. doi: 10.1037/pha

            0000030