At this moment in th United States, there are 25 states (including Washington D.C.) that have legalized medical cannabis. That number is likely to grow as more and more states consider making changes to their marijuana laws. Even though it hasn’t been legalized in every state, there’s been enough medical cannabis activity to see what the medical marijuana landscape looks like for certain health conditions.

There have been a couple of important surveys this year that have shed light on how medical marijuana is is used by patients. The first survey was conducted by Hello MD and it was published in January. This particular one was sent to 17,000 medical marijuana patients, but only 1,400 of them responded.

The second survey was published more recently by Marijuana Business Daily. It used data from patients in states that publicly release this kind of data, such as Arizona, New Jersey and Oregon to name a few.

Using these surveys, here are the health conditions most frequently being treated with medical cannabis.

Top 10 Health Conditions Treated With Medical Cannabis

1. Pain
2. Anxiety and Stress
3. Insomnia
4. Depression
5. Severe Nausea
6. Migraines
7. Arthritis
8. Cancer
9. PTSD
10. Epilepsy

There are tons of other conditions that are being treated, that wasn’t included in the list. These include Multiple Sclerosis, Glaucoma and Parkinson’s disease.

Issues Facing Medical Cannabis Patients

The surveys highlight a broad range of health conditions currently being treated with cannabis. Despite all this, there are a few challenges facing the medical marijuana community.

The most obvious one is that medical cannabis isn’t legal in every state. It depends on where you live. This is a reason why waves of people are moving to states where they can get medical cannabis. A term “marijuana refugees” have surfaced and refer to individuals who travel to places in search of medical marijuana.

The other big issue is that not all health conditions can be treated with cannabis. Most states with medical marijuana programs have limited lists of conditions that qualify for it.If your illness isn’t on the list, you simply won’t be able to use it.

The good news is that a lot of states have started adding conditions to their list of illnesses. An example would be New Jersey which added PTSD to its list of qualifying conditions during last month.

The fact, however, remains that most medical marijuana states haven’t made cannabis accessible to any and all health conditions. This limits the degree to which people can use cannabis for medical reasons.

Beyond all that, there are also restrictions that can make it challenging for researchers to study medical cannabis. And some states only let patients use particular types of medical cannabis products. In New York, for example, patients are not allowed to use smokable marijuana, and they can only get certain types of extracts.

The Point

As these patient surveys revealed, medical cannabis is currently being used to treat a wide raange of health conditions. There are still legal challenges if medical cannabis usage is to become more widespread.

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Epidiolex is a nearly pure extract of cannabidoil (CBD), with little of the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that gets users high. CBD products are highly sought-after medicinal pot products, and activists fear that if the maker of Epidiolex gets FDA approval, it could undercut the political momentum of the medical marijuana movement.

A pediatric neurologist who oversees Epidiolex’s clinical trials at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, Anup patel, insists the drug contains the optimal known marijuana compound for treating seizures. He cited a study that found using the whole plant can hurt children.

Patel laments that children with epilepsy are being using to push for medical marijuana legalization, including during an unsuccessful Ohio ballot campaign last year.

“People are mixing terms, mixing ideas,” he said. “I’m not sure if that’s just because of confusion, lack of knowledge or on purpose.”

Karmen Hanson, expert on marijuana policy for the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, said the two sides are at odds.

“The argument for traditional (whole-plant) medical marijuana is that people know what works for them — whether they’re going to make their own concentrates or vape or combust, use flowered products, oils, you name it — so they want to protect their ability to do that,” she said. “The other camp wants to see the head-to-head science, to give it more scientific validity, to elevate the products that are produced in terms of reliability and consistency.”

Patel is in Camp 2. He personally lobbied to get U.S. patients access to Epidiolex, which he said is effective, consistent and doesn’t get users high.

Roughly two years ago, Patel persuaded GW Pharmaceuticals, a London-based company, to give him enough of the medicine for a single patient, and his hospital’s study was born. Last month, the company release positive results of late-stage testing. It plans to take Epidiolex to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later this year.

THE FDA has not yet found any botanical form of marijuana to be safe or effective to treat any disease or condition, according to spokesman Michael Felberbaum. If Epidiolex is approved it would be the first, however, there are two synthetic cannabinoids – Marinol and Cesamet – available.

An FDA approval would allow any doctor to prescribe Epidiolex to any patient, and it would be covered by insurane. No law or ballot issue would be required.

Many medical marijuana activists fear the approval of Epidiolex will mark the beginning of Big Pharma’s takeover of the marijuana plant, undercutting patients’ ability to treat themselves as they see fit.

“We are not concerned with the pill (actually oil) form of a natural plant,” said Wendy Johnson, who represents the Cannabis Safety Association in Ohio. “In fact, it is looked upon very unfavorably and as a stumbling block on our way to whole plant.”

Twenty-three states now have medical marijuana and cannabis programs – but 17 others have chosen to permit use of “low THC, high cannabidiol” products, mostly cannabis oils or hemp extracts.

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