Can marijuana be used for bipolar disorder?

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The answer is YES, it can and it has been proven. In bipolar or manic-depressive disorder, major depression alternates with uncontrollable elation, or mania. Symptoms of depression include loss of interest and pleasure in life, sadness, irrational guilt, inability to concentrate, appetite loss, lethargy, and chronic fatigue. Manic symptoms include sleeplessness, tirelessness (until exhaustion leads to a breakdown), and recklessly gregarious and expansive behavior, which sometimes turns to irritability, rage and paranoid delusions. Bipolar disorder is treated mainly with lithium salts and anticonvulsant drugs, which can have serious side effects. Thirty percent to 40% of patients with bipolar disorder are not consistently helped by or cannot tolerate standard medications. In the course of the doctors studies of the medical uses of cannabis, a number of sufferers were discovered who believed marijuana to be more effective than conventional anti-manic drugs, or who used it to relieve the side effects of lithium. And as a suffer of this disorder, and a current smoker, I have found this evidence to hold very true. What do you do to control your bipolar? Do you use marijuana? Do you think marijuana should be legalized just for medicinal purposes? If not, why?