Medical marijuana has been legalized (from a State's point of view, the Federal government is another story) in a number of US states, and Crohn's disease is listed among the illnesses that are treatable with this prescription.
I have a few questions about this treatment option. The main question is this: I understand that smoking exacerbates Crohn's disease. Is this specifically smoking tobacco, or any type of smoking? If smoking is bad for Crohn's why would smoking medical marijuana be good?
I have heard of methods for vaporizing the herb so that the patient doesn't have to burn anything. Is this safer for the lungs? You wouldn't want to end up with lung cancer from smoking or inhaling, right?
According to this interesting Science Daily article on Vaporizers for Marijuana
This is definitely food for thought. I do not think medical marijuana will be a viable treatment option for most Crohn's patients until such time as the Federal government allows the use. What good is it having your State grant you a right that the Feds can arrest you for?"Using CO as an indicator, there was virtually no exposure to harmful combustion products using the vaporizing device. Since it replicates smoking's efficiency at producing the desired THC effect using smaller amounts of the active ingredient as opposed to pill forms, this device has great potential for improving the therapeutic utility of THC," said study co-author Neal L. Benowitz, MD, UCSF professor of medicine, psychiatry and biopharmaceutical sciences. He added that pills tend to provide patients with more THC than they need for optimal therapeutic effect and increase side effects.
Which states allow medical marijuana
Page listing some studies and findings regarding marijuana and Crohn's
