Many people who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are turning to cannabis (or medical marijuana) to ease some of the symptoms of the disease. In addition to the already converted, there are many others who are curious about cannabis and whether or not it could help them.

MORE: Fitness vlogger talks about using cannabis for her Crohn’s flares.

Cannabis has been used for thousands of years as a natural medicine. In modern society, there have been clinical trials using mice to study the effects of cannabis on ulcerative colitis. These studies have shown positive results but there still hasn’t been any clinical trials to study the effects of cannabis on humans with IBD. (Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information)

Clinical trials on biopsies from people with ulcerative colitis found that one of the cannabinoid properties of cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD) was as effective as an anti-inflammatory medicine. A questionnaire of 30 people with Crohn’s disease in Israel who smoked cannabis daily showed that 21 people found cannabis helped with their symptoms. (Source: Canadian Society of Intestinal Research)

MORE: More research is needed to validate cannabis for routine IBD treatment.

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