Medical Expert is "More Convinced Than Ever" About the Benefits of Medical Marijuana

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a once staunch critic of the benefits of medical marijuana has reaffirmed his support of using the drug for a wide variety of medical treatments.

Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon and CNN Health's chief medical correspondent is part of a growing population of professionals that support the use of medical marijuana.

The drug is becoming gradually more accepted in the U.S. in general, with twenty states having already legalized the use or marijuana for medical treatment. Numerous others are currently weighting the positive and negative the medical and recreational marijuana industry.

Today, Gupta released a short editorial reaffirming his belief that the good that comes from legalizing medical marijuana massively outweighs the bad.

"I am more convinced than ever that it is irresponsible to not provide the best care we can, care that often may involve marijuana," Gupta wrote.

Six months ago, the CNN correspondent apologized to readers for "misleading" them, explaining that he had written multiple articles and editorials prior to the apology that claimed marijuana was a substance with very little medicinal use and far too high a potential for abuse to ever be accepted by the medical community.

In his apology, Gupta wrote that he was joining a growing number of professionals who chose to admit they had been wrong. He also cited his own brief research that showed that there of all of the recent research found in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, only six percent of current studies investigate the benefits of medical marijuana, while the rest were designed to portray negative effects. Gupta explained to readers that this imbalance could easily mislead a well-intentioned professional like himself.

Today, Gupta reaffirmed his new support of medical marijuana explaining that he had personally investigated numerous medicinal treatments using the drug, testing the substances and interviewing patients who claim almost miraculous recoveries, such as Charlotte Figgi.

Charlotte's Web, a non-recreational marijuana strain used to prevent massive seizures, remains one of the most highly talked about medicinal marijuana's today.

What Gupta failed to mention, but what CNN had previously reported, is that medicinal marijuana such as Charlotte's Web are barely regulated, and as things stand, easily counterfeited.

Still this is one of the reasons why many professional like Gupta declare their backing of medicinal marijuana so publicly in the first place. It is the hope that with more professional backing, legislators will begin to take the drugs a little more seriously and help them become a functioning part of the medical treatment world.

Gupta's editorial was published by CNN Health on March 6.