Question about medical marijuana?

There are three basic methods through which it is consumed:

1) Smoking. This is the least desirable method as combustion of any plant releases undesirable byproducts which can irritate the lungs and have other negative effects. One plus is that it takes effect immediately so it is easy to modulate the dosage to the needed amount.

2) Vaporization. This involves gently heating the herbs to the point where they release the medicinal components (cannabinoids), but below the point where they actually combust - which avoids the harms associated with smoking. The released vapor is inhaled. This has the same advantage of taking effect immediately.

3) Oral consumption (edibles). This method also avoids all the harms associated with smoking. The downside of this method is that it takes time to take effect (typically 30 minutes to an hour or more), which makes it difficult to control the dosage. Using this method it is easy to consume a higher dosage than one intended because people will commonly assume that it's not working (when in reality it just hasn't taken effect yet) and consume even more.

In most cases, it is smoked. However, there are a ton of ways people can take marijuana. It is made into cookies, candies, brownies, and can also be taken in pill form. The pill form is becoming more and more popular with people who do not want to inhale the smoke into their lungs.