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On August 18, 2008 A La Times medical reporter interviewed a group of doctors that were researching the benefits of medical marijuana. The issue of whether marijuana has any medical benefits is all determined on whom you ask–should marijuana be labeled with the dangerous drugs like PCP and heroin, or is it a miracle herb that has an abundance of uses and is being suppressed by the government–perhaps its something in between: an herb with tremendous medical benefits yet with drawbacks, worth looking into.

As the political campaigning over medical marijuana continues, a small group of scientist are investigating the effects on how inhaled marijuana treats nausea, pain, and muscle spasms

Researchers point out that all drugs come attached with risks–especially the ones located in common household medicine cabinets, like aspirin, pain relievers, and antihistamines such as Benadryl. The thing doctors try to do when it comes to drugs is to balance out the risks against the positives the medicine can do– so, why not apply the same rules to marijuana, some ask.

Researchers say that their findings show that marijuana does have medical benefits– for chronic pain syndromes, cancer pains, AIDS wasting syndrome, nausea associated with chemo therapy, and multiple sclerosis. The research is hindered so progress is slow as they try to harness and understand all of the plants benefits. Another discovery has been that although there are real risks attached to marijuana, they are generally small.

Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of hematology and oncology at San Francisco General Hospital and professor of clinical medicine at UC San Francisco, says he sees cancer patients in pain, not eating or sleeping well, experiencing nausea and vomiting from treatment, and being depressed about their situation.

He’s happy that he live in a state like California where medical marijuana is legal by state law–this even as federal agents continue to raid on a regular basis the cannabis dispensaries that are in the state as well as scrutinize doctors who prefer to treat some of their patients with marijuana.

“I can talk to patients about medicinal cannabis [and] I’m often recommending it to them for these indications,” Abrams says.

Medical marijuana use has a history stretching back thousands of years. In those times, the herb was used as medicinal tea in China, a stress remedy in India and a pain reliever for situations like earaches, childbirth and more throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

recently, there have been studies to test the effect on how marijuana treats people with spinal injuries, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and anxiety.

For the 30 years, Dr. Julian Reindhurst has studies the medicinal benefits of marijuana. He currently has a blog that gives the historical perspective of how nirvana seeds benefited other ancient civilizations. He maintains a site that looks at the medicinal benefits of the nirvana seeds.