Today's drugs, effective as they may be, can cause more harm than good to the body. One potent example would be the common painkiller, often taken by individuals suffering from migraines or any other type of pain that needs immediate relief. It's effective, yes, but the drug itself also wreaks havoc on its way out - specifically on the liver and kidneys. Momentary pain relief for liver and kidney complications in the future? Nothing doing.

There is, however, a 'miracle' drug of sorts that provides relief more effectively, and, more importantly, without the liver and kidney damage. No, it's not some space-age wonder pill with super-secret ginseng root extract - it's actually Cannabis Sativa, more commonly known as Marijuana.

We've heard all the stories before, of cannabis usage frying your brain or reducing you to the all-too-common 'stoner' stereotype. Dr. Phillip Leveque - physician, toxicologist and WWII infantryman - believes that marijuana is actually more beneficial than we give it credit for, and that all the bad rap that it's been getting is merely false propaganda and misinformation.

A retired professor of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Dr. Leveque didn't believe that marijuana actually had any medical benefits, until he started seeing patients that have been given prescriptions of the infamous five-leafed green. They all reported of marijuana actually doing what their previous prescriptions could never have done - that was, to give them significant relief from their symptoms.

And these weren't just any patients with migraines or backaches, either. These were hardened Vietnam veterans trying to cope with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) battle stress through use of heavy painkillers, antidepressants and even alcohol, all of which have drastic detrimental effects on the human body. Marijuana, on the other hand, was able to provide relief, without coming back to haunt the user (besides the social stigma of using marijuana, that is).

Immediate relief without the side effects? It's hard not to be impressed with the little plant that could, and it's to note that not only Dr. Leveque has love for it. In fact, Dr. Tod Mikuriya, a member of the doctor-staffed "The Journal of Cannabis in Clinical Practice", has found that marijuana provides relief for about 200 specific diseases. And with more than 300,000 legal marijuana patients in California alone that's receiving all the good without the bad, it might be time to give it a second opinion.

Just when you thought that there can't be any more talk about marijuana, another study comes up. And take note that we're talking about marijuana or cannabis for medical purposes.

According to Dr. Mitch Earleywine of the State University of New York, vaporizing marijuana is more lung-friendly as opposed to smoking it. Marijuana use for medical purposes (mostly for pain relief) have been the subject of debate. Some argue that smoking pot can result to lung problems. Dr. Earleywine said:

The argument that the medical use of cannabis is inappropriate because of its potential to create (lung) problems is now clearly invalid. Regular users of joints, blunts, pipes, and water pipes might decrease respiratory symptoms by switching to a vaporizer.

Their research showed that the when cannabis is heated (in vaporizers), the psychoactive ingredients are released without having to deal with the smoke and toxins from the lighting up a joint. The test was conducted via an Internet survey of medical cannabis users. A number of participants who suffered from asthma, cystic fibrosis, and those who used other inhaled drugs were excluded. Only 2.2% of the total participants (152) used vaporizing as their preferred mode of use. A hundred of participants who used vaporizers did not have respiratory problems (60%) as opposed to 56%  of those who used other methods.

Dr. Earleywine concludes, "These data, in conjunction with previous work reveal that people can use cannabis without fear of respiratory problems." Interesting. But remember boys and girls, cannabis is only legal for medical purposes for some states - it doesn't mean it's okay to smoke pot.

Some of us think that boozing and smoking is A-okay as long as you don't do drugs, but apparently this is wrong. Alcohol and tobacco has been found to be more dangerous than two known drugs: marijuana and Ecstasy, among others.

In a recent study made by Britain's Bristol University Professor David Nutt and his colleagues, a classification of harmful substances was made. This list ranks the said substances according to the actual risks they pose to the society.

Heroin and cocaine made it to the top of the list, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. What is compelling about the list is that alcohol made it to the fifth place, tobacco landed on the ninth place, Cannabis was at the eleventh place and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy.

The researchers made their study in the hope that tobacco and alcohol use will eventually be regulated, considering their harmful effects to people. Tobacco causes 40 percent of all hospital illnesses while alcohol is blamed for more than half of all the visits to hospital emergency rooms.

The experts agree that criminalizing tobacco and alcohol will be a challenge. They hope that the study will be used by the government to review the penalties imposed by harmful substances to reflect their actual risks and damages caused.