These days it can be pretty difficult to distinguish medical marijuana from the many marijuana-derived products that are sold over the counter as legal remedies for all sorts of medical conditions. Specifically, the many beneficial effects of CBD have revolutionized the whole scene. Yammy CBD (visit their website here), a company specializing CBD oil and other such CBD-derived health products, say that many of the reasons why people, in less accepting times, would have sought out medical marijuana is now the reason why they turn to the many new CBD products exploding across the market and which are changing people’s lives for the better.
Nevertheless, medical marijuana is still a thing, defined as THC-containing marijuana products that are obtained via doctor’s prescription and for health reasons. Naturally, there are strict laws across the country – varying state by state – that regulate the availability and use of products defined as medical marijuana.
However, as mentioned, many of these products overlap pretty heavily with CBD products – at least in the things they are designed to treat. But of course, medical marijuana contains CBD too, and many of the benefits it offers can be provided just as well with CBD products, which are much more broadly legal.
Nevertheless, some of the benefits of medical marijuana are derived from the THC too, and between the interaction of the CBD and THC in the product. The potential benefits are great, but diverse, pretty diffuse and, as you might expect, can vary from person to person.
What is Marijuana Really?
The precise definition of marijuana is actually particularly important for understanding how both medical marijuana and CBD products work. The first thing to understand is the distinction between hemp and marijuana. Both are forms of the cannabis plant, that familiar broad-leafed green plant that you will know from endless logos and iconography. A cannabis plant is known as marijuana though when it contains over a certain amount of THC. If it contains negligible amounts (i.e., not enough to cause the effects of THC when consumed) it is known as hemp.
If you absolutely want to avoid THC but still receive some of the medical benefits that have been ascribed to marijuana, then your best bet is to look for hemp-derived CBD products.
How to Use Medical Marijuana
In the end, medical marijuana is simply the same stuff as recreational marijuana, only it is carefully prepared in the right strains and chemical compositions to treat whatever condition the patient presents. This is probably the most fundamental difference between medical marijuana and CBD products – its substances have not been derived from any plant. You are smoking the plant itself.
Sativa vs Indica
These are the two main types of marijuana and represent the most fundamental choices you should make when it comes to picking the right type of medical marijuana. It is all to do with energy and the different effects that each has in this area. Indica tends to relax the body and deplete energy, so it is preferable for things like sleep issues and so on.
Sativa, on the other hand, is the one that creates more uplifting effects, and is ideal for energy depletion conditions and to improve things like creativity and concentration. This is the fundamental difference, although bear in mind that things only get more complicated from there. This is where the doctor comes in.
Ultimately, the doctor’s consultation before you are prescribed medical marijuana is where the decision will be made. Doctors are licensed to prescribe medical marijuana, and now have the expertise to prescribe it just like any other drug. Marijuana is becoming medicine.
