Does Marijuana Provide More Benefits For Patients with Glaucoma than Traditonal Medications?

Andrew Frawley

Professor Dempsey

ENGL 1200-20

Project 2: Blog 4

6 April 2014

 

Blog Four: Does Marijuana Provide More Benefits For Patients with Glaucoma than Traditional Medications?

            Medical marijuana often times provides more benefits to patients with glaucoma than other traditional forms of medicine. Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve, the cable that carries visual information from the eye to the brain (Care and Treatment 1). Cannabis plays a factor in lowering the eye pressure of patients with glaucoma, providing relief to pain, and overall improving their lives. Many times, the “usual” forms of medication will not be as effective in helping the patient. Common treatments used to lower the eye pressure of patients with glaucoma are eye drop medications, laser treatment, and operating room surgery. These medications and treatment options can sometimes virtually produce no beneficial results and possibly cause unacceptable side effects (Care and Treatment 1). The inconsistency experienced from different treatments and the positive effects marijuana has exhibited in glaucoma patients that use this medication allows for strong argument in the analysis of whether or not marijuana is the best medication for these patients.

            Glaucoma is one of the leading reasons for blindness, affecting over 60 million individuals worldwide. The use of marijuana can help prevent people with glaucoma from going completely blind by its ability to lower intraocular pressure (IOP). IOP is the leading cause of optic nerve damage due to glaucoma and causes harm to the eyes of many patients with glaucoma. Cannabis plays a large factor in reducing this pressure, with a study showing that more than 80 percent of patients that smoked marijuana out of an ice-cooled water pipe experienced a reduction in IOP of 16-45 percent. This study displays the positive impact marijuana has on reducing the IOP of patients with glaucoma. (Medical Marijuana for Glaucoma Treatment, Symptoms 1). There is no known cure of glaucoma but combining traditional medication and marijuana, as instructed by an ophthalmologist, can create an effective treatment plan to delay or avoid the need for surgery (Medical Marijuana and Glaucoma Treatment, Symptoms 1). The use of marijuana to treat patients with glaucoma has a large range of benefits and fewer effects than other medications, which brings up the question of why any state would not give people with this disease the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not it is the best overall alternative treatment.  

            Traditional forms of medicines used to treat glaucoma have not always been consistent in providing the most relief for pain and are many times accompanied with a range of possible side effects. A couple of common categories of traditional medications are taken to reduce the intraocular pressure are Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors (CAI) and Cholinergic. CAIs reduce eye pressure by decreasing the production of intraocular fluid and are available as eye drops and pills. These medications do not always benefit the patient and have a large amount of side effects, such as tingling or loss of strength of the hands and feet, upset stomach, mental fuzziness, memory problems, depression, kidney stones, and frequent urination (Medication Guide 1). Cholinergic (Miotics) is another category of medications used to reduce IOP by draining the intraocular fluid through the trabecular meshwork and is more effective if combined with another medication. The main side effect associated with this medication is dim vision, especially at night or in movie theatres. The reason for dim vision when taking these medications is due to the constriction of the pupil, occurring from the increase the drainage of intraocular fluid and making the size of the pupil smaller (Medication Guide 1). The side effects and inconsistency in lowering eye pressure seen from medications places the idea of marijuana being the best medication for treating glaucoma in the spotlight.

Marijuana does have its share of side effects, but there is an overwhelming quantity of evidence of the benefits it supplies in decreasing intraocular pressure. The potentially serious physical side effects associated with smoking marijuana include an increased heart rate and a decrease in blood pressure. A few studies show how single-administration marijuana use has shown to lower blood pressure along with the lowering of IOP, which has raised concerns that there may be compromised blood flow to the optic nerve. Lower blood pressure can potentially prevent the medication from actually lowering the IOP, making marijuana less effective as treatment for glaucoma. Another disadvantage associated with using cannabis as a valid medicine to treat glaucoma is the amount of the substance needed to keep the IOP levels low at all times. Due to the short duration of the induced fall in IOP, an individual would have to smoke a marijuana cigarette eight to ten times a day in order to control IOP over 24 hours (Marijuana in the Treatment of Glaucoma CTA-2013). This information suggests that a person would need to continuously use marijuana throughout the day in order to keep the intraocular pressure low. This indeed establishes negativity towards the argument of marijuana being the most effective treatment for glaucoma, but other studies provide the benefits it has been shown to provide in lowering intraocular pressure. Patients with glaucoma have experienced benefits from this treatment, but it is significant for anyone who wants to switch or add this medication to make note and understand all possible side effects, which is no different for any medication.

            The ability of marijuana to lower the intraocular pressure of patients with glaucoma does give a positive reflection of marijuana being the best treatment. Traditional forms of medicine have the same goals in reducing this pressure, but have not always worked with certain people and produced unacceptable side effects. There is, of course, criticism accompanied with whether or not marijuana is even a valid substance to treat glaucoma, but facts speak for themselves. Marijuana has rarely not helped lower the eye pressure in patients’ and there are not long term side effects, like those associated with other traditional forms of treatment. Both the stance in favor of the use of medical marijuana to treat patients with glaucoma and the opposing point of view are both backed up by credible statistics and information, but the effectiveness cannabis has seen in lowering eye pressure, when blood pressure is not lowered, gives credibility to why glaucoma patients are choosing this treatment. If everywhere in the United States legalized the use of medical marijuana, the quality of life of patients with glaucoma would greatly increase.

 

 

Works Cited

Glaucoma Research Foundation. “Care and Treatment.” “Should You Be Smoking Marijuana To Treat Your Glaucoma?” <http://www.glaucoma.org/treatment/should-you-be-smoking-marijuana-to-treat-your-glaucoma-1.php>.

Glaucoma Research Foundation. “Medication Guide.” <http://www.glaucoma.org/treatment/medication-guide.php>.

Hoskins Center for Quality Eye Care, AAO Complementary Therapy Task Force. The Ophthalmic News and Education Network. “Marijuana in the Treatment of Glaucoma CTA-2013.” <http://one.aao.org/complimentary-therapy-assessment/marijuana-in-treatment-of-glaucoma-cta--may-2003>.

Pain Management of America. “Medical Marijuana and Glaucoma Treatment, Symptoms.” <http://www.medicalmarijuana.net/uses-and-treatments/glaucoma/>.

Glaucoma Research Foundation. “Medication Guide.” <http://www.glaucoma.org/treatment/medication-guide.php>.