Cannabis, more popularly known as marijuana, has yet again been proven to be beneficial to human health, according to a recent study by Washington State experts.

Amid some countries' spite with the addictive effects of marijuana, to the extent of deeming it an illegal substance, science still continues to prove its medicinal value as anthropologists examined its effects on a group of tropical forest foragers in Central Africa, known as the Aka foragers.

According to Medical Daily, the study examined how smoking marijuana affected the Aka foragers, a tribe comprised of about 400 "pygmy" hunters and gatherers living along the Lobaye River.

Edward Hagen, one of the anthropologists who conducted the research, stated they found out that humans have a taste for psychoactive plant toxins "the same way we have a taste for salt."

"So we thought, 'Why would so many people around the world be using plant toxins in this very recreational way?' If you look at non-human animals, they do the same thing, and what a lot of biologists think is they're doing it to kill parasites," he explained further.

History itself has proven the health benefits of smoking marijuana. In fact, according to Medical Daily and the Business Insider, it can be used:

1. as a painkiller

Egyptians have been known to use medical cannabis to relieve pain caused by hemorrhoids.

2. as an anesthetic during surgery

Chinese and Taiwanese have been using marijuana as a form of anesthetic when conducting a surgery.

3. as treatment for glaucoma 

Past studies conducted during the 1970s revealed that medical cannabis can normalize the intraocular pressure (IOP) inside the eye, which can be beneficial for people with glaucoma. Aside from that, it was also discovered to thwart the development of the disease and prevent blindness.

4. to reverse the carcinogenic effects of smoking tobacco

Marijuana increases lung capacity of people who smoke, thereby, contradicting tobacco's impairing effects to the vital organ. Experts looked into risk factors of over 5,000 young adults over the course of 20 years and found that those who smoked tobacco lost their lung function while the ones who smoked pot actually showed an increased lung capacity.

5. to control epileptic seizures

In 2003, a study testing epileptic lab rats discovered that medical marijuana can reduce or even get rid of seizures for 10 hours after initial smoking. This is because the herb contains a cannabinoid known as tetrahydrocannabinol, a substance that controls seizures by attaching to the brain cells which control excitability and regulate relaxation.

Here are 10 more benefits of medical cannabis to human health: