Therapeutic Uses of Medical Cannabis: An Overview of its Functions in Disease Management

Cannabis belongs to the genus Cannabis sativa.It is popular globally and used widely for several purposes.Its use was illegal in many countries due to prohibitive regulations but now some laws have approved it, providing permission to some industries to produce cannabis just for medicinal use and it is not available as an over-the-counter drug.It is available in different modern medicine forms like capsules and tablets and can be administered as a tea formulation.In some countries, it is used as an effective analgesic for chronic and intense pain management.In ancient times, the use of cannabis was common as medicine, but the complete mechanism of action was not known.Advancement in medicine began again in India, China and Africa, but they still needed modern techniques for the development of medicine that were not available at that time.It resulted in slowing the speed of progress.But in recent times, many compounds have been isolated from cannabis and their pharmacological actions have been evaluated and explained.Some of the constituents include nabiximols, nabilone, tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiols.However, these all are given in low or medium dosage forms otherwise they cause undesired side effects including but not limited to panic attacks, dizziness, drowsiness and vertigo.But these are not so severe to cause discontinuation of therapy.This review brings to fore the important roles of cannabis in the management of some disorders in modern medicines.