According to the FDA, there are over 24,000 different kinds of prescription drugs on the market. Each of these was created and developed with a specific purpose in mind, most often for treating maladies. There seems to be a prescription drug for every disease, ailment, symptom, condition, disorder, illness, reaction and interactions, no matter how minuscule or severe, and certainly everything in between. Unfortunately, many times the drugs fall short on delivery. Oftentimes, these prescription drugs can wreak havoc in the body, creating a new set of symptoms that are not even related to the condition in the first place. Another prescription is needed because of what a current prescription is causing in the body. It just doesn’t make sense.

It’s too bad that there isn’t a drug that could treat numerous conditions at the same time, so patients wouldn’t have to take multiple drugs and deal with the side effects of each. Oh, wait a minute, there is—it’s marijuana. Over the years, and certainly more recently in the U.S., marijuana has been shown to treat many conditions.

What’s interesting about this revelation is that for years many people were medicating and balancing the body’s natural systems without even realizing it. People were consuming marijuana to reach a euphoric high and an uplifted state of mind. They smoked marijuana for that reason, but didn’t understand that the plant was also helping to maintain a healthy body.

Times are different today. Medical marijuana is legal in 33 states, and people are waking up to the fact that marijuana is not the taboo plant that so many people were raised to believe. The health benefits of marijuana have been known throughout the world for millennia. Progress here in the U.S. stalled out in the 1930s when it became illegal. The slow acceptance can be described using basic sociology. Marijuana was outlawed because it got people high, even though it was legal and sold as a medication in this country just over 100 years ago. It was labeled rebellious and those who partook were rebels. Society’s views were led to believe that there was nothing good about the marijuana plant.

Several generations of Americans grew up to believe that marijuana was malevolent, a gateway to harder drugs and that it would lead to a fiendish lifestyle. Thank goodness for the hippie movement, when consuming marijuana made a comeback in the public eye—even while withstanding the jeers being thrown, fueled by societal judgement. Marijuana persevered through it all. It couldn’t be eradicated or stomped out. Even with societal norms influencing public opinion, marijuana is a weed. It’s strong and sturdy and grows wildly throughout all of the continents except Antarctica, and like most weeds, it’s difficult to maintain control of the plant.

Marijuana may not be the cure-all medication, but unlike the narrow purpose of prescription drugs, it does work with the body, repairing and balancing it in many ways and in different areas of the body. So, in society’s eyes, pot smokers were rebels. That ideology is still prevalent in areas around the country. It’s sad really, that some people are still following worn out beliefs and viewing anything to do with marijuana as “bad”. Ironically, the rebels of yesteryear may have been seen as socially deviant, when in reality they were warding off possible seizures, helping control pain that otherwise would have been present, calming anxiety, relaxing the fatigued body and even warding off, and in some circumstances curing, cancer.

 One plant, one medicine. It medicates and heals a long list of diseases, ailments and symptoms. It’s natural and not synthetic. Another prescription will not be needed to fight side effects because they are minimal if present at all. It can take a very long time to shift societal norms, even if the norms are outdated and just plain wrong. Times are changing and so is society’s view on marijuana as medicine. There’s still a long way to go for the whole country to see the benefits of it, however, education is helping to make that societal shift.

For more information and education, visit EarthsHealing.org.