Detection of Functional Matrix Metalloproteinases by Zymography. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Medical cannabis (or medical marijuana) refers to the use of cannabis and its constituent cannabinoids, to treat disease or improve symptoms. Cannabis is used to reduce nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy, to improve appetite in people with HIV/AIDS, and to treat chronic pain and muscle spasms.
In a 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 17.4 million people in the United States said they had used marijuana in the past month. According to the survey, marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug. About 4 in 10 Americans have used marijuana at least once in their lives, according to the National Institutes of Health. Marijuana is usually smoked, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The cannabis (called pot, weed, grass, etc.) is typically spread on rolling papers and formed into a cigarette, often referred to as a joint, or a cigar-like blunt.