Review of Medicinal Use of Cannabis Derivatives and the Societal Impact of Legalization

BACKGROUND: In recent past, there has been a rush to legalize marijuana along with a lot of support for its medicinal uses. This review intends to discuss the medicinal uses of marijuana and its adverse effects based on the current available evidence. Furthermore, it discusses the impact of legalization of marijuana. METHODOLOGY: This was a narrative review for which a thorough literature search was conducted on the Medline and PubMed databases. A detailed search of the Internet to find relevant information on webpages was also performed. RESULTS: High-quality evidence for the majority of medical indications of marijuana remains investigational. Most of the available literature compares it against placebos. Postlegalization usage of marijuana has increased. CONCLUSION: It would be prudent to wait for studies which prove beyond doubt the advantages of marijuana over the existing drugs and also outweigh its side effects and addiction potential. Moreover, further legalization of marijuana should only be considered after evaluating its effects at places where it is already legally available.